The Way Things Are
by Little Miss Jigsaw
Summary: Alternate Ending and continuation of the series... Buffy saved Spike, Sunnydale still fell into the ground, and there are other Hellmouths to be dealt with, as well as new Slayers to find and train. Spuffy. Please R
1. Aftermath

right, well, been writing on this for a couple days now, and already staring on Chapter three... I figured that's enough of a head start, especially if I don't post updates every other day, like I have with others... that way I don't have to stress out over getting chapters done fast enough...

I'm hoping that all chapters will be of fairly good length, considering I am writing in size 7 font, AND using the CSI font (you know tv show, CSI) which is smaller than normal anyway, so I have to write more to meet my general chapter page length...

Anyway, enough rambling. The prologue is a re-write of the end of the Series, and please bear in mind that this is my first ACTUAL Buffy fic... I've written one other thing, and that was a oneshot song fic.

This IS a Spuffy fic, though I was never adept at writing pure fluff, so don't worry too much... Though I feel I should warn any Angel lovers, I don't like Angel, and the best moments with him are the ones where Spike's putting him down, so you'll be seeing a bit of that... But Angel will get his own stabs in there as well, and after a while, So shall Xander.

Now on with the Spuffy goodness!

The Way Things Are  
New Places, New Hellmouths

PROLOGUE: Chosen

"I love you," Buffy said the words steadily, even as the pain from her hand being burned threatened to make her voice crack. A tear made its way down her cheek, but it wasn't from pain... Not physical pain anyway. It was emotional. The look in Spike's eyes as she said the words was heart-wrenching. _She'll tell you. _The words echoed in Spike's memory. The young girl who had been able to see the future had told him that once, when he had been helping to save her life. _One day she'll tell you. _ That day had finally come. Pity it had to be as he was dying. The words he said next, nearly broke his own unbeating heart to say, but anything to make Buffy leave.

"No you don't," he nearly choked on the words. He wanted to reply with an 'I love you, too, pet' but he couldn't. Then she would want to stay with him, "But thanks for sayin' it."

Buffy stared at him for a moment, and felt the very familiar, and nearly overwhelming desire to hit him, and keep hitting him until he was black and blue... But the circumstances, and the way his wonderfully blue eyes wavered stopped her. Instead, she made up her mind in a split second, and reached for the amulet around his neck. Spike realized too late what she was doing. "Bloody hell, Buffy, no!" he said, but she already had her tiny hand wrapped around the amulet. A single yank was enough to rip it from his neck. She threw it with all her strength onto the stones at their feet, and it shattered, the light refracting from it growing brighter, and brighter.

Spike collapsed as the jewel shattered, and Buffy caught him, dragging him out of the ray of sunlight, as he began to smoke. It was a struggle to get him up the stairs, but she managed it. How the hell she was going to deal when she got to the outside of the school, she didn't know, but she would manage.

---------------

Luckily, the cloud of dust rising from the school provided the cover required to keep Spike from becoming ash, and thank whatever deity there was that Faith had good eyesight, and stopped the group from driving away in one of the school buses, when she saw the slayer, and her bleach-blonde vampire companion draped over her shoulders. As a very injured Robin drove away from the city that was quickly becoming a crater, Buffy took sweaters and jackets from the people left alive, and the ones that had been left by careless kids. She rolled the unconcious vampire under the seats, and covered every inch of him in the sweaters and jackets. She couldn't risk him bursting into flames, not after she'd made the decision to save him. She knew he'd be pissed at her later, but oh well. She had been pissed at him before, when he'd saved her... even when she'd needed it. Shouts from one of the few surviving potentials... well, slayers now, made Buffy look up, and find who they were missing. But she noticed so many faces absent, she knew it would be easier to just go by who WAS there. There was Vi, whom was the one shouting, Rona, the target of Vi's yells, Kennedy, and an asian girl, whose name Buffy had forgotten.

All of her original Scoobies were there. Xander, Willow, Giles... Dawn was alive and well, as was Faith, and Andrew. She didn't know what condition Robin was in, only that he was hurt. And then there was Spike... Her Spike. Her jealous vampire champion. The look on his face when she had handed him that amulet, after telling him it was meant to be worn by a champion only... If she had known what it would do to him, she might never have let him wear it. But what was done was done. He was alive, or as alive as a vampire could be, and that was what mattered.

"Ease off, we're clear!" Faith called to Robin, and the bus skidded to a halt. Buffy, who had only crouched in the aisle, nearly fell forward.

Once the bus was fully stopped Buffy, Kennedy, Xander, Dawn, Willow, Giles, and Andrew got off to have a look at Sunnydale. Faith started to follow, but stopped by the driver's seat to speak with Robin. She told him they made it out alright, and he nearly scared the life out of her when she thought he was dead. He tried to turn it into a joke by saying "Surprise" when he woke up. Faith only smirked at him, and left him in Vi's care. The girl seemed to know what she was doing. Outside, the group was inspecting the crater that had once been Sunnydale. With what sounded like a squeak of defiance, the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign toppled over the edge and clattered down to the bottom of what had once been a Hellmouth.

"Good Lord," said Giles staring at the vast hole, "What did this?"

"Spike," Buffy replied, with a hint of pride in her voice, "He was going to die in order to make sure we lived..."

"Looks like the Hellmouth's officially closed for business," said Faith, in relief.

"There's another one in Cleveland," said Giles, and all heads turned in his direction, "Not to spoil the moment..."

Faith said something, but Buffy wasn't listening. She was staring off in the horizon. She wasn't the only Slayer anymore... There were girls all over the world now, who had her power. That could do what she did. She was free to live her life in a semi-normal way. Sure, she would have to work on training the group she had with her now, and any strays they picked up along the way, but still... Protecting the world was no longer her duty alone. She could have some peace. Sunny"Hell" was no longer around to haunt her. She could leave her more painful memories behind... Bury them in the rubble that was her old home. She could start a new life now. Maybe things with Spike had a chance of working out this time, without her duties as the sole Slayer to hinder her. That would have to wait until they had found a place where their entire group could settle comfortably. But there was that glimmer of hope, and that was enough to bring the smallest of smiles to her face.

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CHAPTER ONE: Aftermath

By nightfall they had reached a small town called WeedPatch, California. Luckily the asian girl, whose name was Michelle, had lived in Weedpatch, before moving on to Sunnydale when her family, and watcher had been murdered. Most of Weedpatch had cleared out, since the craziness from the Hellmouth had seeped into that town as well, so there were no worries about people asking questions as to why there was a good-sized group of people suddenly piling into Michelle's house. Most everyone was glad to be off the bus. Buffy certainly was. Her legs had started to cramp from sitting in one place for so long, though it might have been an easier ride, if she had been in a seat, instead of crouched in the aisle, near Spike.

Fortunately enough the house was large. Sure, people still had to pair up when it came to beds, but there was more room than there had been in Buffy's house. It wasn't more than half an hour after arriving that all but Giles and Buffy were sound asleep, or in the vampire's case, out cold. Giles was tending the burns on her hand, and looking rather grim. Strange, when they had just defeated the source of all evil. "Guess holding hands with a torch of a vamp isn't exactly one of my more intelligent ideas," said the Slayer, trying to lighten the mood.

"What?" said Giles, "Oh, y-yes of course. What- whatever were you thinking?" He was distracted, that much Buffy could tell.

"What's up? You're all grim, and doom-like... We won."

"Yes, but at what cost?... Buffy, what happened down there? You said Spike caused the city to cave in on its self, but how? And why did you bring him out... My watcher senses tell me he didn't have a say in the matter."

"I destroyed the amulet... " Buffy replied slowly, "Spike was dying... That thing was killing him. He was telling me to leave him behind... So I broke it, he passed out, and the rest you know...I couldn't let him die, Giles. Not after everything he's done for us. And I'm sorry if it ruined his chance to die a hero, but he has a promise to fullfill to me."

"And what promise would that be?" Giles asked, cleaning his glasses vigorously, suggesting that he was uncomfortable with where this was going.

"He promised that he would be around until I was ready for him to not be here... And I'm not ready for him to not be here, yet. He can die a hero some other day... For now, he's saved the world, and he lived... If he wants to die, well, all he's got to do is make me mad enough to stake him."

"Do you love him?" Giles asked it so plainly, as if it were a question he'd ask anyone.

Buffy nodded slowly, "Yes... And don't lecture me on falling for another vampire, please, I've lectured myself plenty of times, and punished myself by denying it... So please, save the sermon." She surprised herself with the force with which she spoke.

Giles gave her the oddest look, "I wasn't going to lecture you, Buffy. Who you fall in love with is beyond anyone's control... Do I think you could make a better choice? yes... Am I going to belittle you, or make you feel guilty about the choice you did make? No. But, like Angel did, Spike has proved several times that he loves you."

"That's the funny thing..." Buffy began, finally saying something she'd been thinking since Angel had shown up shortly before she'd cut Caleb in half. "Angel loved me, I know... But when he lost his soul, he only loved the fun of tormenting me... Spike... Spike loved me even when he didn't have a soul. I can't help but think... if it had been Spike in that apartment with me back in highschool, then I wouldn't have woken up alone the next morning... But maybe that's just wishful thinking."

"You never can tell with, Spike, as moody as he is... He's unpredictable."

"Only when you don't know him very well... I already know how he's going to react to me getting him out of there. "

"And might I add... I'm beginning to see a pattern in your relationships... The vampires last the longest."

"You noticed that too, huh? Spike, before he got his soul, told me that I couldn't be happy, unless I was with a vampire... It was meant to hurt me, at the time, but maybe he was right. And you know, the funny thing is, I'm actually okay with that."

-----------------

Buffy leaned against the doorway of the room Spike was in, after checking in on everyone else. Watching the vampire sleep, she remembered the night she'd killed Caleb, and Spike had been dreaming. She laughed quietly as she remembered what he'd said... _"I'm drownin' in footwear!... Weird dream..." _ She hadn't pegged him for the type to talk in his sleep, much less dream about footwear... Shaking her head at the memory, she fully entered the room and shut the door behind her.

From a ways down the hall, Xander had been watching. He hadn't been entirely thrilled that Buffy had brought Spike out of the Hellmouth alive. He had been less pleased when he'd heard Buffy and Giles' conversation about Captain Peroxide, and was rather angry that Buffy had just gone into the vampire's room, seemingly with no intentions of coming out. _I only hope you don't get yourself hurt, again, Buffy... He's hurt you too many times before to be trusted now..._

-----------------

The next morning, few of them were up before late after noon. In fact, Buffy, Willow, and Faith slept right through till early evening. By the time six pm rolled around, most were still in make-shift pajamas, and looking bleary-eyed, and in some cases, still chugging down cups of coffee. Faith was still grumbling about being able to go on with her sleeping for a week plan if it hadn't been for Vi sharing her room when Buffy managed to force herself to stumble down the stairs.

"I feel like I have a hangover from hell, and someone is only making it worse by beating me with a sledge hammer," she groaned, plopping down at the kitchen table. Dawn, the only one who had risen before one pm was in a fairly good mood. "Good morning Buffy!" she said cheerily, handing a mug of coffee to her sister. Buffy glared at her younger sibling and mumbled "What's good about it? And it's not even morning..."

"No," said Giles, "The correct term for this time of day is evening."

"Is Spike awake yet?" Dawn asked, ignoring her sister's glare, and Giles' correction.

Buffy shook her head, taking a sip of the coffee, "No.. Still out cold, like I wish I could be... The after-effects of all that fighting are hitting me hard...When I'm asleep it won't bother me at least."

"You think you've got problems?" said a groggy Willow, sitting next to Buffy, "All that power I gave you girls had to run through me... Felt good yesterday. Today it feels like a... a herd of elephants trampled me."

"Well, I could knock you both out," said Xander, "But I'd prob'ly lose my other eye."

What was left of the day was spent lounging about, and recuperating from injuries... Both phsyical and emotional. All of them had lost friends in the previous day's battle. Xander had lost the woman he loved, and though he was trying to hide it, Buffy noticed a lack of the jokes he normally told, dire situation or no dire situation. The four remaining former-potentials didn't laugh and chatter like they once had... Andrew even refrained from his constant complaints of "Rona stole the last piece of pie!" or that one of the girls had been rude to him. Faith sat with Robin, who, while concious, wasn't moving around. Willow and Kennedy were practically attatched at the hip, and Buffy and Dawn altered their time from sitting and talking with Giles, along with the teen slayers, and sitting with Spike, who muttered often in his sleep. It was just after the moon rose to it's highest point, and Dawn had gone to get something to drink, leaving her sister alone with the vampire, that there was a knock at the front door. Buffy heard it open, and heard Giles speaking, and another familiar voice. Curious, she got up from her chair, opened the bedroom door, and peered down the stairs.

It was Angel.

Angel looked up, just as Michelle called from the living room that he was invited in, and saw Buffy poking her head out of a room, staring down at him. He didn't know what he expected, but Buffy just looking at him with no real enthusiasm wasn't it. She stepped out of the room, and pulled the door closed behind her, carefully. She slowly made her way down the stairs, and leaned against the banister.

"Buffy," he said, waiting for the usual hug, or kiss. None came. There was the old spark of happiness, at seeing him, that he remembered, but not quite so bright as it used to be... Something had happened, after he left. That much he was sure of... And from the scent she was covered in, he was guessing it had to do with Spike. "Where's Captain Peroxide? Or is he back in Sunnydale?" he couldn't help the slight hint of hopefullness in his voice.

"No... He's upstairs, unconcious... That amulet nearly killed him... Would have, if I hadn't smashed it."

Angel grimaced. That wasn't the fate he'd wanted for that amulet... He could have cared less about Spike, but that amulet... There had been plenty more things that it could have been used for... Protection, purifying, the list went on. "Look, Buffy, I didn't know what it was going to do... If I had, I'd have worn it..."

_And I might have let you die... _Buffy thought, even though it disturbed even her to have such a thought, _if it meant saving the world... _"I'm glad you're back," she finally settled on saying, before things got awkward. "I guess I should introduce you to the girls.."

Once introductions were done, and everyone was settled in the living room -(even Robin and Faith joined them)-, chatting with one another, Buffy took the time to note how the girls acted with Angel. Dawn sat as far away as was possible. The blonde slayer couldn't have said why, for sure, but it most likely had something to do with the fact that Angel made it known that he hated Spike, whom Dawn thought of as an older brother. The ex-potentials however were happy to sit near him, and talk comfortably. Maybe because he didn't give off that "get near me and I bite your head off" vibe the other resident vamp did. Halfway into a discussion about Gnarl demons, Buffy tuned the voices out, and she was pretty sure Willow did as well, considering that Willow had found out first hand what a Gnarl demon could do. Buffy just didn't like being reminded of how she'd killed one... Digging her thumbs into it's eyes. That had been extremely nasty.

She started listening again just as Xander commented on the fact that Anya had gotten great enjoyment out of Dawn being posable while paralyzed by the demon. Dawn didn't find the memory too amusing, but Buffy did. Her rather upbeat "She's posable?" had only made Dawn even more annoyed. The conversation turned to the little musical mishap that Xander had started, causing the ones that hadn't been in Sunnydale for that incident to nearly start rolling on the floor with laughter at some of the songs that had been sung, and what they were about. Xander even went so far as to lovingly recite Anya's song about bunnies, even though he did a rather bad impression of his ex-fiance. Willow, Giles and Xander were talked into teaching everyone their "I've got a theory" song by Faith, and Rona, who seemed to think the idea was a rather amusing one. Buffy firmly refused to recite any of the songs she'd sung, as most would just bring back bad memories, though she did have a good time laughing at Xander, when Andrew requested that he recite the song he and Anya had sung.

None of them heard a door upstairs open. All Buffy heard a was a familiar voice saying "Oh Bullocks," and then a loud series of thuds, and groans.

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If you will all remember, "Oh Bullocks" is what he says before the "who-ket" as Buffy called it (last ep, scene "Jealous Vampire Champion"), started workin


	2. Conversations

Okay here we go, chapter two... I hope you all enjoy it... It's been re-written twice.

As for whoever said hey hoped I didn't do too much Angel bashing, no worries, I won't... It would be an entirely different story if I could come up with some good insults, but alas, I cannot, so Angel will remain unbashed for the most part.

anyway, enjoy the chapter, and please review... I live on reviews like homunculi live on philosopher's stones :p (if you don't watch the Anime FullMetal Alchemist, don't even try to get that)

CHAPTER TWO: Conversations

The first thing Buffy thought when she heard the "Oh Bullocks" was that she had never really left the Hellmouth, and that any second she was going to wake up, and find the bodies of her friends all around her, and see Spike caught in that ray of sun... But she didn't. She was still safely in Michelle's living room, and there were quite a few snickers from her companions as a bleached blonde head suddenly popped up from in the hallway. Spike heaved himself off the floor, and muttered something about his legs not working, and unsteadily made his way into the living room to sit next to Buffy, if you could call what he did sitting... More like falling.

"What's wrong Spikey?" Angel taunted, "Going to need your wheelchair again?"

Spike clenched his fists, and Buffy could hear his teeth grinding, but he said nothing in reply, and didn't make a move for the older vamp... Though she doubted that he would have sat still if he could walk properly. She tossed a look towards Angel that clearly said to cut it out. Things might have gone smoothly after that if Xander hadn't asked,

"Wait, Spike was in a wheelchair? When?" he sounded morbidly happy at this thought.

"Yeah," Angel replied, "Right after he tried to 'cure' Drusilla, and you Scoobies stopped him. They, uh, dropped a pipe organ on you didn't they Spike?" He was getting far to much enjoyment out of this.

Despite the fact that it was obvious to everyone that Spike was seething, the vampire stayed put, and said rather steadily, "Can someone just tell me why the hell I'm alive? I believe I gave Goldilocks here specific instructions to leave me there."

"Well, you're as alive as someone with no heartbeat can be," Buffy said, voice perky, "But as for why: because I don't take orders from a vamp who thinks far to highly of himself for his own good, and tells someone he doesn't believe them about something just to make them leave... And don't call me Goldilocks."

"Oh, so it was you then. Good, don't have to bite everyone else here to get a confession. Thanks for savin' me the trouble, pet," Spike replied, sarcastically, "You were supposed to _leave. _I told you it was for me to do the clean up!"

"If by clean up," Kennedy chimed in, "You mean turning Sunnydale into a giant crater, you succeeded there, fang boy. The Hellmouth's gone... But according to Giles, there's another in Cleveland..."

"And in England," Giles interrupted, making everyone roll their eyes.

"I'm dragging him to the crater, and throwing him in... now," said Vi.

"We're gettin' a bit off topic here, pets, " said Spike, looking annoyed at the fact that the discussion had changed so quickly, "Doesn't matter if the bleedin' city was destroyed anyway, the point is, Buffy could have gotten herself killed..."

"Right, and that matters to you because?" Angel said, almost immediately realizing his mistake.

"Now you listen, Peaches, and you listen good, just because you had to saunter off to LA, and leave Buffy behind doesn't mean _I _don't give a damn what happens to her!"

"I think I'm kinda with Angel on this one..." Xander commented quietly.

Buffy, fed up with the bickering, stood up abruptly, "That is it! I have had it with all three of you! Xander; your commentary is not needed to make things worse, thank you! They're jealous enough without it. Angel; if it weren't for Spike, you would be dead now, so think about that for a minute. Spike; _Please _don't make me regret saving you... And don't nag at Angel for leaving... He had his reasons. Now, Xand, I know, you hate Spike, and, well, I guess you always hated Angel too, but try and keep the showing of the hate to a minimum. And you two, _stop _trying to out-do one another... It's annoying, pointless, and it only serves to piss me off. Keep all this up, and I'll stake you two, and lock Xander in the basement... Am I clear?"

The three offending parties nodded docily, taken aback by her ferocity. "We'll be good," they chorused.

There were several quiet chuckles, then outright laughter from the girls, and Robin... Giles, being his normal self, simply cleaned his glasses, and muttered to himself about it being a miracle that any of them had been able to work together long enough to save the world.

------------------

Alexander Harris wasn't going to speak up about the vampire issue again, that much was certain... Not after Buffy's scolding, but that didn't mean he couldn't keep an eye on their toothy houseguests... Spike more than Angel really... He knew that Buffy had long since gotten over Angel, and vice versa, but she was still seeing Spike, as far as he could tell, and that really made him uncomfortable. Sure, he had only killed people since he had started helping the Scoobies when the First had taken control of him... But there was still the possibility that William the Bloody might resurface at some point. Granted, Angelus could always pop up again as well, it just wasn't as likely.

So, he kept his eye on Spike (_hmmm... _He thought, _now when I keep an eye on someone, it really is just an eye...), _and he didn't miss the sidelong glances he threw at Buffy, as she and the other slayers told the non-slayers what had gone on in the Hellmouth. He also noticed that Spike was eager to gloss over some parts closer to the end... starting sometime around when he had been telling everyone to get out. Xander'd find out about that. As the non-slayers told their parts of the story, Xander paid close attention to Andrew's, as he'd been the one with Anya... Anya... It was still hard to believe that she was dead... His girl was gone, her body forever lost in the rubble of Sunnydale, along with so many of the other girls. He tuned out of Andrew's story around the time he said something about Anya being sliced in half. That was one description he wanted to keep out of his head. Nightmares were no good. Particularly ones about Anya.

He remembered the last words he'd heard her say, before the fight began... Andrew had been giving a speech about his brother or something, and Anya had stopped him, saying "No one cares, you little monkey." The thought made him grin a bit. That was Anya. Blunt, and honest to a fault. Movement from Spike caught his eye, pulling him from his memory. _Ha! taking her hand, she's so gonna... Not pull away? Okay, now all hope that I was hearing things last night is gone... Damn..._

--------------------

_"I don't take orders from a vamp who thinks far to highly of himself for his own good, and tells someone he doesn't believe them about something just to make them leave... " That's what she said... I guess she caught on to me...Next apocalypse comes around, I'll have to hit her to emphasise my point I guess... Not that it'll do much good... Buffy's too stubborn when it comes to that... Knew there was a reason I fell for her... But, now that fuckin' nancy boy, Angel's back... Guess I'll be watchin' her kiss him with my enhanced vampire eyeballs soon enough...Where's my soddin' punchin' bag when I need it?_

On a whim, Spike reached across the small distance between himself, and Buffy and took her hand, noting with satisfaction that a) she didn't pull her hand away, and b) both the poofter and the whelp were giving him rather hateful glares. Good. He didn't need them to like him... Buffy wanted him around, and that was what mattered. She had believed in him, called him a champion. A few little death-glares weren't going to remove the pride of those memories any time soon. No bleedin' way. When the original scoobies started to tell stories about their highschool days (or in Giles' case, his librarian days), and all the evil plots they had foiled, some of them his own, Spike considered getting up, and leaving for a bit.

For one, he was getting desperate for a cigarette, and two, he really didn't like being reminded of the days when Angel had been the one who was there for Buffy, and he'd been beaten on a regular basis, by a bunch of teenagers. Not that the memories weren't amusing, in some ways...

The one thing that stopped him from leaving, he still couldn't move right. His entire body felt all pins-and-needly, and after his fall down the stairs, he didn't want to make an even bigger fool of himself. It wasn't fitting for the Big Bad to be falling on his face every couple of seconds. _That trinket did a number on me... Or maybe it was the part where Buffy broke it... Who knows..._

-------------------

_Jealous she says... Ha! I'm not jealous of him! _ Angel told himself, _Right... No more than you were jealous of Xander or Ford when she was in highschool... _another part of his mind argued, and despite the fact he knew it was crazy to argue with himself, the other part, in denial, had to respond with, _I had good reason to be jealous of Xander, the way she was dancing with him... And we all know how the deal with Ford turned out...Oh who am I kidding? I''m jealous... Jealous because Peroxide is right, I left her, and I got replaced... Maybe at one time I could have gotten my place back, but not now... I'm permanently replaced... So much for her cookie analogy thing of it being years before... how did she put it? She was done baking, and decided who got to e-... Oh god, I hated that analogy. Why did it have to be _cookies _of all things? Couldn't have used something a little less, well, dirty sounding, could she?_

Still trying to work out how to make the cookie analogy sound a bit better, he nearly missed Buffy giving Spike's hand a squeeze... Nearly. _Yup... I'm replaced... Always knew she'd end up with a vampire... Just always hoped it'd be me..._

Several hours of random chatter about random subjects brought dawn just a bit faster than anyone had anticipated... So he was going to be stuck in a house with Spike till nightfall... Joy of joys. _Maybe if I stake him quietly Buffy won't notice... _Various yawns from everyone, as the sun rose interrupted his murder plans.

"Feelin' like a vampire myself," Faith commented, "Gettin' up near dark, goin' to bed when the sun rises..."

"Well, we don't always sleep during the day," Spike commented.

"No," said Xander, "You sit around doin' excercises while you should be looking for an invisible Buf- wait a second... She was invisible, and that was when you two were... So that day you were- and I walked in on-... Oh, God, I'm scarred for life!"

"Hey Xander," said Buffy, laughing at her friend's sudden horror, "Why don't you just go back to remembering it as excercising?... You didn't _see _me..."

Angel, perceptive enough to catch the drift of what Xander had seen, or, if Buffy had been invisible, hadn't seen, decided to keep any comments to himself on that one. Anything he said was likely to get him hurt. Badly.

------------------

"Yes, well," said Giles, again, cleaning his glasses furiously, "As, uh, fascinating as Buffy's antics were while she was invisible, I really don't think we need to go any farther into this conversation."

"Giles is right," Dawn agreed, getting to her feet, "Besides, it's six am. I go to bed now, I can get up by ten, and maybe get to sleep at a proper hour tonight. She hugged her sister, "Good night... Well, morning, really," and after a moment's hesitation, hugged Spike, "Glad you're okay, Spike." The vampire was caught off guard by her sudden show of affection, and it took him a moment to awkwardly return the hug. Satisfied, Dawn bounced up the stairs to the room she was sharing with Rona. Pair by pair the group headed off too bed. Willow was with Kennedy, Faith decided to room with Robin, leaving Vi to stay with Andrew. Xander and Giles slept in the living room, though they were likely to be joined by Angel that night, and Buffy shared a room with Spike, though at first this was something that the aforementioned man didn't believe.

Buffy had been lying in bed for several minutes, waiting for Spike to join her. She thought he'd have followed her the moment she went up the stairs, but he hadn't. It was a good fifteen minutes afterwards that the door opened, to reveal Spike bracing himself against the door frame, looking rather down-trodden.

"Guess you'll be havin' the poofter up 'ere then?"

"No, actually, " Buffy replied, enjoying the shock, and confusion on his face, "I don't care what you think, I meant what I said down in the Hellmouth..."

Spike shut the door, and headed, somewhat clumsily for the bed, and sat down, "I guess if you drill the fact that you could never love him in enough, a bloke starts to believe it," he said, slowly, "Kind of a sudden change s'all I'm sayin', love... You bounce back an' forth... One minute, you'll make me think you hate me, the next, there's a bit of hope that you could see me as more than a thing...Like you see Angel."

"Hey," said Buffy, sharply, " Angel's not staying with me, you are, so stop being all bad-moody that you're alive, and just go to sleep... "

"I wasn't alive in the first place, pet... An' for the record, I did believe you...I jus' wanted you t' leave."

------------------------

Two days earlier

Buffy paced back and forth in her room, after coming inside. Tomorrow was the fight with the big bad... What she hoped would be the final one. Some of her girls were going to die... She had come to terms with that already, but her idea might lessen the amount that were lost. She just had to hope that Willow could pull off the spell. If she could, then they were changing the rules... breaking them even. Aside from her group of potentials, she had others to worry about as well. Faith, Giles, Xander, Dawn, Anya, Spike, Andrew, Willow, and Robin... Faith and Spike would be joining her and the potentials in the Hellmouth. The others would keep the neandervamps that got past the slayers from getting to the sewers.

Sighing, she turned on her cd player, which thankfully ran on batteries. Maybe some music would calm her nerves, besides, it might be the last time she got to listen to music anyway...However, it did the opposite of calming her... The cd that happened to be in it was one she'd made herself, the year before, before the incident that had caused Spike to leave... She hadn't realized at the time how ironic the mix really was.

_No one knows what it's like_

_To be the bad man_

_To be the sad man_

_Behind blue eyes_

_And no one knows_

_What it's like to be hated_

_To be fated to telling only lies_

_But my dreams they aren't as empty_

_As my conscience seems to be_

_I have hours, only lonely_

_My love is vengeance_

_That's never free  
_

Nope... Not that song... That got her to thinking of things she didn't need to be thinking about... Time to switch... She spaced out for a while during the second, but when she heard it,

_And you see the things they never see_

_All you wanted, I could be_

_Now you know me, and I'm not afraid_

_And I wanna tell you who I am_

_Can you help me be a man?_

_They can't break me_

_As long as I know who I am_

She switched to the next one quickly... _Should I even bother trying another one? I think I already know what it's gonna remind me of..._

_I know you think that I shouldn't still love you,_

_Or tell you that._

_But if I didn't say it, well I'd still have felt it_

_where's the sense in that?_

_I promise I'm not trying to make your life harder_

_Or return to where we were_

_I will go down with this ship_

_And I won't put my hands up and surrender_

_There will be no white flag above my door_

_I'm in love and always will be_

_Okay, that's it... Music off, and I give up! _Buffy thought, switching the CD player off.She left the room, and headed for the basement. Spike rose from his cot when he heard her coming, and for a long moment they just stared at one another. Buffy made the first move. She crossed the room, and stood directly in front of the vampire. Again, they simply stood there for a long while, staring at one another.

"Shouldn't you be upstairs, givin' a sermon on how they're all gonna make it out all right?" Spike finally asked,

Buffy shook her head, "I don't feel like lying tonight... I know that most of us are probably going to die down there... Makes it a bit difficult to give a pep talk."

Spike reached up, and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, "Don't be like that, love... If your little plan works, you've got yourself a nice little army. You've trained those girls well. Now it's time to have a little faith in their abilities."

"When did you become all philisophical?" Buffy asked, sarcastically, looking right up at him, holding his gaze with her own. Spike didn't answer. He simply leaned down a bit, and hesitated, asking permission to continue, with his eyes. Either he saw what he was looking for in her expression, or he didn't care, for after a second, he continued anyway, covering her mouth with his own, savoring the taste and feel of her lips. It was the first time they'd kissed in over a year... Not since Riley had found them in bed together... Or to be more specific, atop a sarcophagus, but that was simply a minor detail, nothing more.

They did nothing more that night than kiss, and hold eachother. Much like he had when Buffy had been driven from her own home merely days before. Just being in Spike's arms gave her strength. Strength to keep fighting. Strength to keep hoping. It was then that Buffy realized she really, truly loved Spike... That, for all his flaws, she always had. But she wouldn't say it... Not until the battle was over and done with.

--------------------

And that final section is my own take on that scene with Buffy and Spike, before it suddenly changes to the highschool... While the gutterminded being in me said they shoulda slet together on their final night together, the romantic in me said they should have just layed there, like they did in "Touched"... Not saying that IS what happened though... After all, according to Joss Whedon, whatever a fan wanted to have happen in that scene was what happened... So I imagine there's thousands of different theories...


	3. The Taunter Strikes Fear in the Heart of

alrighty then, chapter three, for ya'lls enjoyment... I'm posting it a bit early, while I'm still feeling well enough to even get on the computer... getting a nasty virus, feeling like shit all around.

anyway, you all should recognize the name of this chapter, as it is a line from the final ep of the series :p

also, taking a vote now... I'm going to bring Oz back into it in a couple chapters, and I would like a yes or no from everyone on wether or not he and Willow should get back together... I never really saw her relationship with Kennedy lasting very long, and I think she'll always keep loving Oz, no matter what... Anyway... Yes or No to that, please.

Will post the next chap, soon as I'm feelin better, which with me could be in a couple of days, or in a week or so, but I figured I'd post this early in case.

Oh, and anyone who does not get The Flinstones reference in here NEEDS to start watching CTN's Boomerang at night.

CHAPTER THREE: The Taunter, Strikes Fear in the Heart of- 

Several days, and twelve arguments that nearly resulted in fist-fights later, Giles was beginning to wonder if he had really escaped Sunnydale, and hadn't died in battle, and was now stuck in a hell dimension. The sources of these thoughts were currently in the kitchen, fighting.

Andrew was backed up against the counter, a package of cookies clutched to his chest, "I told you!" he said to the girls that had him cornered, "I had dibs on these, and I'm not letting you have them!"

Vi, Rona, and Michelle only laughed at him, and tried to grab his prize. Being as small as he was, he ducked, and ran for the other wall. Faith, tossing a rubber ball back and forth from hand to hand, intervened, "Whoah, whoah, whoah, guys, what's the problem?"

"Faith!" said Andrew, as if she were a saint coming to save him, "They're trying to steal these from me, when I had dibs on them!" he held up the bag of cookies, only to snatch them back, and hold them to his chest again when Rona used her good arm to make a grab for the bag.

Faith held up her hands, "Chill, I know how to settle this... Rock, paper, scissors. I win, the girls get the snacks, you win, you get 'em... Fair?" Andrew hesitantly nodded. "Alright then," said Faith, with a smirk that clearly said she had trouble planned. As she and Andrew brought their hands down the third and final time to reveal what they had chosen, she flicked her hand forward slightly, and released the ball she'd been holding, to strike the boy squarely in the chest. Seizing her opprotunity, Michelle grabbed the cookies, as Andrew reached up to rub his chest. Without further ado, the girls, and Faith darted for the billiard room, and shut and locked the door. Andrew was close behind them, though he wasn't fast enough to avoid being locked out. This resulted in his pounding on the door, and screaming "WIIILLLLMAAAA!" at the top of his lungs.

"I thought we left the Summers' house..." said a grumpy Kennedy, hands over her ears to block out Andrew's yell.

"So did I..." said Willow, with a shrug.

"I think we're all dead, and this is our hell," Giles said plainly, "To be forever listening to their bickering, and petty complaints."

"Hey," said Buffy, coming down the stairs in her bathrobe, drying her hair, "Look on the bright side... Our hell could consist of millions of ubervamps, and pesky little Firsts to annoy us for all eternity."

"She's got a point, Rupert, though I think I'd prefer the neandervamps, if s'all the same," said Spike, as he lit a cigarette. To Buffy he said, "You smell like peaches."

Buffy held up her hands in self-defense, "I haven't been anywhere near Angel so don-"

Spike interrupted, "I meant the fruit, pet, not our favorite houseguest... Though if you've got a guilty conciense..."

Buffy rolled her eyes, "Don't even start with that... Besides, I think Angel's had his eyes on Faith."

"Oh don't even go there," said Angel, as he entered the room, "I respect Faith, and I feel we have alot in common, nothing more... Besides... Robin would stake me."

"Damn right," the afformentioned Robin put in, with a nod of greeting to Angel. "No offense though... And I'd make it a quick staking, if it helps."

"That's... Very comforting... I think."

----------------------------

"So, you all forgot who you were?" Vi was asking Dawn, "That must have been weird."

"Oh it was!" Dawn replied, happy that she was the one getting to tell the stories tonight. The adults were discussing where they should be headed, and Dawn, while she enjoyed being part of the group to know what was going on, enjoyed spending her time with the Slayers who were her age, "Xander and Willow thought they were dating, Anya and Giles thought they were engaged, Buffy named herself Joan, oh! And Spike thought his name was 'Randy' and that he was Giles' son."

Rona chuckled, "Now _that's _a scary thought. What about Angel?"

"Oh, um, he wasn't there..." Dawn replied, "He's never around actually... He took off when Buffy got out of Highschool. I don't know the whole st-" she stopped, when something caught her eye. She turned, and it was gone. She narrowed her eyes at the corner where she'd thought she'd seen it. Nothing there.

"Um, Dawn, are you okay?" said the timid new comer, Torrie. She may have been timid, but she didn't look it, with her electric blue hair, with ruby-red streaks, and her wild attire. She had come to the house only days before, saying that for some reason she felt drawn there. She had accepted who, and what she was with no hysterics or dramatic denial, and in the time that she had been there, she had quickly grown attatched to Dawn, and had become comepletely smitten with both Giles, and Xander, though being around the other Slayers made her quite nervous. Kennedy in particular scared her. She waved her hand in front of Dawn's face to get her attention. It wasn't so much as the movement, but the bright color that brought Dawn back to reality, as Torrie had a habit of drawing on her arms, hands, and palms in brightly colored markers.

"What? Oh, right... Yeah I'm fine, I just thought I saw... Never mind, it's nothing."

But it wasn't nothing. she could have sworn she'd seen her mother. And she knew what that meant.

----------------

Buffy wasn't exactly sure what woke her, or if it was even more than just an eerie feeling, but she was awake, and she wasn't happy about it. She slipped out of bed, and out of Spike's arms. As per usual, he slept through it, doing nothing more than rolling over and muttering. _He could sleep through an earthquake. _Buffy thought, with a small smile, heading for the window, and peering out of it. Things had been awkward with Spike and Angel, since Buffy had made it clear in no uncertain terms that she was with Spike.

The two vampires, while not friendly with one another in normal times, were way beyond hostile. Random rude remarks turned into arguments, though it was never clear who started it. Buffy was sure some were the fault of Xander, who she knew was trying to pit the two vamps against one another. She left him alone about it though. He was still in the "hide the fact that I'm grieving" stage of his mourning for Anya, and insulting his least favorites of the Scoobies was an easy way to take off some of the frustration. So, she didn't bug him. After all, she took out her problems on poor defenseless demons, by beating the crap out of them.

She stared up at the moon, and got a sudden urge to climb out the window and patrol, even though she knew there would be no beasties for her to kill. Strange that she was itching to go out and hunt, when it was a job she complained about so often when in highschool and college.

"You miss it already?" Buffy heard Spike's voice say. She turned from the window to face him, but something was wrong. Spike was still sound asleep. So then who? She finished turning, and found herself staring at a being who was quickly changing form to become her. "Hello, Buffy," said The First, "Miss me?"

"What do you want?" Buffy asked nonchalantly, "If you're here for round two, you're lacking an army. Though feel free to gather one up. We'll kick your incorporeal ass yet again."

"Oh, I'll be back for 'round two' one day, believe me... I just stopped by to say see you at the next hellmouth, and to remind you that you can beat my armies, you can spoil my plans, but you can never... ever be rid of me."

"Care to test that theory?"

"As long as there is evil in this world, I'll be here to, and there's nothing you and your poor excuses for friends can do about that... You're contributing to the evil yourself... " The First turned towards the still-sleeping Spike, "Look at him. You say you love him, and he falls for it. He's pathetic. You just tell him exactly what he wants to hear, and you've got him wrapped around your finger. He's like a dog, too loyal for it's own good, who'll follow it's master to the ends of the earth, with no regards of its self. And you let him do it. You let him believe that you love him, while really all you want to do is run back to your precious Angel. But you don't because, oh! He might lose his soul. So you pal around with, how did he put it? Love's bitch, I believe was the term, just to get your fill of vampire lover... And when you're done with him, you'll throw him away. You know why?"

"Stop it," Buffy hissed, fighting the urge to try and punch the apparition in front of her, "Just get out. Your psych-shit isn't going to work on me."

"Oh but it is... " Buffy now found herself looking at Angel, "Just remember who you really love, Slayer..."

"I do," Buffy replied steadily, "Now leave."

With a sigh, Angel/The First shrugged, and was gone, leaving Buffy to stare at the empty space, so angry she was shaking. She hadn't realized it, but sometime during The First's speech, she had dug her fingernails into her own palms, drawing blood. _I'll give it credit... It certainly knows how to piss me off. If it actually had a physical being, that being would be nothing more than a limp pile of blood and bones right about now... _"Spike," she said, hoping it would wake him, Though she had learned that he wasn't the easiest to awaken, "Spike!" still no answer. Sighing, she said, just a bit louder, "William!"

The use of his human name woke him. She didn't know why, but it did. It was kind of like those cartoons, where something could sleep through just about anything. Bombs, the house falling down around their ears, cute little rabbits banging on pans near by, yet the moment something tiny, like a sewing pin, was dropped, they'd shoot out of bed like all hell'd broken loose. "Wha's wrong, love?" Spike asked groggily, rubbing his eyes, "You look like you've seen a bloody ghost."

"Ghost, yes, bloody, no." Buffy replied, before turning dead serious, "Look, you know I love you, right?"

"Wha'? Buffy, what're you on about?"

"It's just that I-... Well, when we were in the hellmouth, a-and you said I didn't... I-I haven't said it again since, and... and I don't want you to think that it was just because I thought you were gonna die down there..."

"Look, Buffy, you don't have to explain anythin' t'me, alright-"

"No! I do have to... I-I've treated you awfully for all the years we've known eachother, and okay, so you deserved getting hit a few times, well... most the time, but you didn't deserve some of the things I said to you, and I want you to know, that I didn't mean them... At first, I really was just using you... And then that became a convienent excuse to use whenever I came close to actually falling for you... I'd just tell myself I was using you, and that would stop me for a while... Delay the time when I would finally have to own up to my feelings. And eventually, I couldn't fool myself anymore, so I took it out on you... Verbally, and physically."

"I remember the physical bit quite clearly, pet."

Buffy sighed, and sat next to him, "What I'm trying to say is, I never should have treated you like I did, and then expect you to believe me when I finally told you what you'd been wanting to hear... But now that you're not on the verge of death, or insane, I'll say it again, and I swear to God if you say you don't believe me after this speech, I'll beat you black and blue... I love you. "

"Well if you put it that way, I believe you," Spike replied with his usual self-satisfied smirk. When he saw Buffy's look, he lost the smirk. "I love you, too, Buffy." He cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her, just to prove how much.

-----------------

Xander was tossing and turning on the couch, drenched in sweat. He shot up, wide awake as his recurring nightmare got to its worst point. Breathing heavily, he wiped his forehead, and ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. He tried as hard as he could to not close his eyes. Every time he did, bits of his nightmare came back to him in flashes. It was always the same. He was always forced to witness Anya die in hundreds of ways, over, and over and over again. It was going to drive him insane. He could hide his grief from his friends, but come nighttime, he was punished for it, by being plagued with that nightmare.

"So, you dreaming about me, or is there another girl that can scare you that bad?"

Xander looked up, and nearly fainted on the spot. Anya was sitting on the arm of the couch, looking very pouty. But it couldn't be her. Couldn't be his girl. She was dead. She was dead, and buried in the rubble of Sunnydale. "You're not Anya," he said flatly, "Anya's dead. You're the First."

"Smart," Anya/First replied, "You're right... Anya is dead."

"Say, didn't we beat you down at the hellmouth? I thought you would be somewhere, I dunno, a little more hellmouthy, now, trying to regroup."

"What can I say? I enjoy taunting you all. It's so easy to set you on edge. Andrew's little story about Anya dying to save his life? Lie. She died being sliced, shoulder to hip, from behind, while that runt was trying to keep himself from being impaled... He lied to you to make you feel better about her death... But then, you knew about it the whole time, didn't you? It allowed you to keep hiding from your friends... Well, toodles."

In an eye-blink The First was gone, and Xander was left, confused, upset, and alone. Seeing Anya, even if it hadn't really been Anya, just made things worse... All his memories of her came back to him in a flash. From that straight-forward girl she'd been back in Highschool, and College, to the brave, and still straight-forward woman she'd become. Sure, she'd been summoned originally to take vengeance on him, but that hadn't worked out so well, and instead they'd fallen for one another. He'd never quite worked that one out, really. But seeing her again... _If I could bring you back, An, I would... I would do it in a heartbeat. _

----------------

Angel was unlucky enough to have been walking by Buffy and Spike's room, just as Buffy had been waking Spike up. Despite the alarm going off in his head telling him not to listen, he stayed, and pressed his ear to the door all the same. He didn't enjoy what he heard, though he did enjoy the mental image of a badly bruised and beaten Spike when Buffy threatened him. He tore himself away from the door when he heard the distinct sound of the beginnings of a makeout session. Not something he wanted to hear really. He considered going down the stairs, grabbing his stuff, and leaving when a familiar figure appeared in front of him. Jenny Calender.

"Hello Angel... Not enjoying what you were hearing?" she faked a look of compassion, "You know, it really makes me wonder why I went through the trouble of finding the curse to put your soul back if she was just going to move on to the next vampire that came along as soon as she could... Seems kind of pointless that I died for it now, doesn't it? Especially since I was doing it because I thought she loved you... I mean really loved you...Like you did her. I mean, really, you had to have loved her for one night with her to remove your soul. Now look how she repays you for showing such control around her... She's sleeping with someone you hate... someone she claimed to hate for years."

"Shut up.. You're not real..." Angel spat, backing up. The First just loved to torment him with Jenny. He hated to admit it, but it worked. He was reminded too much of all that he'd done to the Scoobies when he saw her. He'd killed her, when she'd been trying to help him... He'd tormented Giles with her body, and later tortured Giles himself... He'd even gone so far as to get Druscilla to use Jenny's image to get information from the watcher, when torture had proved to be useless... "She did love me..."

"Tsk tsk tsk... 'Did' is they word there," The First changed to Spike, "She's with me now, Peaches, an' there's nothin' you can do about it... " it changed back to Jenny, "Pretty soon, she'll forget comepletely about you... And eventually him too. She'll just keep working her way through men, like she always has , while all you can do is watch... Watch while the woman you love forgets you, ignores you, torments you... As she punishes you for leaving her..."

"Shut up!" Angel repeated, trying not to raise his voice. He walked right through Jenny/First, headed down the stairs, ignored a confused Xander's questions, grabbed the few things he'd brought, and headed for the front door. He couldn't take it. Couldn't take being in the same house with Buffy while she was with someone else... Not when he wanted to be the one she was with so badly. He didn't think the entity was right about Buffy working her way through boyfriends... Just right about not loving him anymore. And that was a thought he couldn't bear. So he was going to leave. Leave, and not come back, unless it was necessary. He was reaching for the doorknob when Buffy's voice stopped him.

"So that's it then? You're just going to take off in the middle of the night with no goodbye? And I thought your days of just leaving were over."

"I heard what you said to Spike," Angel replied calmly, looking up at her. She stood halfway up the stairs, arms crossed, leaning against the banister, blonde hair messy, and one eyebrow raised in a look that clearly asked what that had to do with anything.

"If you're expecting an 'I didn't mean it, you're the only one for me', you're not going to get it. You had your chance, Angel. You left me, remember? Said I needed a normal guy to balance out my decidedly un-normal life... Well, Angel, I tried the normal guy routine. Didn't work so well... But you still weren't around. Did you really expect me to not fall for someone else?"

"I wanted you to, actually, just not with a vampire... And the way you talked after you killed Caleb... I started to hope maybe we had a chance some day. You said that night that Spike wasn't-"

"Wasn't my boyfriend," Buffy interrupted, "And he wasn't... Still isn't. Silly little highschool names are pointless, really, when you think about it. After all, 'boyfriend' brings to mind nice little strolls in the park, going out to a restaraunt or something on a real date... Kinda hard to do all that when you're out every night on the hunt for evil, and the closest you can have to a date is maybe a little bit of talk in between demons. So no, he's not my boyfriend... And I don't see a happy home with a white picket fence in the future, or any children, or grandchildren, but, I love him and that's what matters now..."

"You always were like that when we were together... Only thinking of now, instead of the future... I told you back then, what if one day you want all that?"

"Oh that argument again huh? In case you haven't noticed, I'm not happy home and children material, alright? I have a hard enough time with a bunch of teenage girls, and even now, when this place is as hectic as ever, it's as close to normal as my life has ever been, and I'm starting to hate it! I MISS patrolling every night, okay? I miss going out, and dusting vamps, and killing demons... That IS normal for me, Angel... You just never saw that, and I guess you still don't. This is as normal for me as it gets... The girls sleeping upstairs, and the ones we'll find as we go along, they're as close to children as I'll be getting... ever, and I fully accept that... I gladly accept that. I just wish you could, and would stop trying to give me reasons not to love Spike... especially since they're the same reasons you gave me not to love you."

Angel sighed, shoulders sagging, and without another word, left the house, knowing she was right. He slammed the door shut behind him, nearly causing it to splinter. There were several murmured complaints from the upper level of the house, and some from a grouchy Xander, and groggy Giles. Buffy sighed deeply, and rubbed her forehead... She had heard Angel talking, which was what had caused her to leave her room in the first place... She was betting that hearing her and Spike wasn't the only reason he was upset. She had the feeling that The First had decided to torment Angel as well. A glance into the living room, and seeing the expression on Xander's face made her wonder if he hadn't seen The First as well.

She'd tell Giles about it in the morning... For now, she was going to get back to sleep. Tomorrow they were off to England, joy of joys, to guard the Hellmouth there, in Salisbury. Faith had mentioned something about a town called Barford, or something, considering it was mentioned in the doomsday book, but Giles had shot down that theory saying that you couldn't go by that, and that Salisbury was where the the hellmouth was.

-------------------

Spike had been peering out the door, and watching the confrontation going on closely. Behind him The First, in the guise of Buffy, stood with her arms crossed. She leaned close to Spike's ear and whispered, "Let's see how long before we drive you out too.."

"You can try... You can try."

----------------------

Now, yes, the First is back as the Big Bad. HOWEVER, it's goal is comepletely different, so no worries there... You shall see in due time what it's up to :p


	4. New Home New Cemetery New Slayers

Right, well, this one is shorter than the others, I think, and not as good IMO... such is the price of writing when you're coughing your guts up, and sneezing your brains out... The next on will be better, I promise, and even have a bit of Spuffy fluff... or as fluffy as I'm going to allow things to get without there being a price... Trust me... they've got dark times ahead.

Anyway, on to the chapter.

CHAPTER FOUR: New Home, New Cemetery, New Slayers

Giles had his fingers firmly stuffed in his ears as the girls got a bit rowdy in their training. It soon became less like training, and more like play-fighting, as they turned on another. Giles felt it best that he escape right then before they decided to bring him into the fray. He couldn't take their high-pitched squeals and laughter. It was about as mind-numbing as their idea of music, which was worse than Buffy's. He didn't even know why he'd agreed to train the newer and/or younger slayers, as they had built up quite a group in the two months they had been living in Salisbury, England. Vi, Rona, Michelle and Kennedy patrolled the near by cemetery every night with Buffy and Spike, and sometimes the other members of the Scooby Gang, while Giles, Willow, and Dawn stayed home to train Torrie, Kally, and seven other girls.

When Sunnydale had still been on the map, the only potentials had been teenage girls. Now the youngest of their group were Corrine, Jory, and Brandie. Brandie was twelve, Jory was thirteen, and Corrine was only six, and was the only one of the girls who didn't train. Corrine, or Cory, as she was called, had been in an orphanage, and due to her newfound strength, she had been causing alot of trouble. It had been little trouble for Buffy to convince the people who ran the place to let her take the little girl. They were just desperate to get rid of her. It had become clear why not long after. She had an attitude to match Spike's and Kennedy's, and like any child, she was painfully honest. She let people know exactly what she thought of them the moment she met them, and she never changed her first opinion.

Unluckily enough for Giles, she had decided she didn't like him, and took every opprotunity to make his life hell. She'd only been with them for a month, and she already knew how best to annoy him. Fortunately, she was with Dawn that evening. Giles sat in the closest chair, and removed his glasses. This wasn't getting any easier, that was certain. Buffy had been a difficult student, sure, and she'd had a poor attitude when it came to her training, but at least she'd done it.

These new girls, most of them anyway, weren't to worried about their training, for they felt that the biggest threat to the world had been destroyed, and that with so many of them, there was no reason to be too serious. Giles knew better. Buffy, Xander, Spike, Angel, and even Dawn had seen the First, which really didn't surprise him... It was only a matter of time though, before it decided to do more than taunt them, and drive people away. Though they hadn't had another visit since the night Angel had left. At least, not to Giles' knowledge.

"Alright Giles," said an upbeat voice, with the slightest hint of a southern accent, from the doorway, "We're being good now. It's safe." That was Summer. She was one of the few bookworms they'd managed to find. She'd become fast friends with Willow, and even Giles, and often helped in research about a particular demon the active Slayers had found.

"Very well... Thank you, Summer. I'll be there momentarily... Do try to keep them under some form of control."

"You betcha! I'll just start on a rant about the best ways to kill a polgara demon... They should be so bored by the time you come in that they'll _want _to train."

"Marvelous... Have at them."

----------------------

"You're gonna regret that, mate," Spike was saying idly, to a vampire whom was currently engaged in a fight with Kennedy and Buffy. The vamp had made the very big mistake of ripping both women's shirts. Never ever a smart thing to do, if you wanted to avoid becoming dust. Spike himself was avoiding the two slayers, staying on the sidelines with Rona, Michelle, and Vi, in order to keep from accidentally being staked... Or in the case of Kennedy, just being staked, no accidents about it. Out of the corner of his eye, Spike noticed a knife coming his way. He didn't bother to look and see who was wielding it before he ducked out of the way.

"Bloody hell! You tryin' t' kill me!" he said, rising, not noticing the rather ugly rust-colored demon that had been been behind him was now dead, thanks to Xander.

"No, but next time I might," Xander replied, nodding towards the demon. "Or I'll let one of those do it for me."

"Spike, Xander!" one of the women called, "Duck!"

No arguments about it, they both ducked in time for a vampire to go sailing over their heads, and end up impaled on a tree branch, becoming nothing more than dust in the wind. "Well," said Vi, "That's five vamps in one night... Not to bad if you ask me..."

"Question is," Kennedy remarked, out of breath, "is why there's so many."

"An'," said Spike, grabbing his duster from atop a headstone, and putting it on, just as rain began to pour from the sky, "Why there's a fyarl demon 'ere. " He jerked his head in the direction of the dead demon. He looked up at the sky, which continued to throw buckets of water on them, "Well, now I remember why I left this soddin' country in the first place... It's... well, sodden."

"Got that right," Buffy replied, brushing wet hair from her face, and wiping water out of her eyes, "Does it ever stop raining?"

"Yeah," said Vi, "For about twenty seconds at a time... I was here on summer vacation a few years ago... Wasn't much of a summer if you ask me, unless you like getting soaked to the bone."

"Well at the moment, I _don't,_" said Xander, shivering, "so can we just get back to the mansion and tell Giles that some long lost cousin of his decided to show up?"

There were nods of agreement all around, and the group started to trek through what was quickly becoming cemetery soup, towards the lights far off in the distance which was the mansion they now occupied.It had cost a pretty penny, but thankfully, since the residents of Weedpatch hadn't bothered to grab much before they left... There were safes full of whatever cash or jewelry that had just been left, various stores with cash registers just waiting to be opened, and the small bank. It had been enough to raise a small fortune. And with some of the girls looking for jobs in Salisbury, they were able to get along comfortably at least, and they were just a mile away from the town. Far enough away to avoid questions, close enough to be able to patrol every night.

"You know," said Rona, jogging to catch up, "I wonder where exactly the hellmouth is... Giles never said. He just said that it was near here."

"You'll have to ask him when we get back," said Kennedy, "Though does it really matter, so long as we don't let anything open it?"

---------------------

"It's right in the center of this room," Giles was saying idly to Rona, and Vi, as he flipped through a book, looking for something on fyarl demons, a species which he had briefly been a part of several years before. They were in the rather large library, the floor of which was highly polished blue marble, inlaid with various intricate designs in white, grey, and red marble. In the center, where according to Giles, the hellmouth was, was a large ornate celtic knot in black marble.

"Oh great," said Buffy, as she jogged down the stairs of one of the upper levels of the library, "If we don't work on it, we live on it... Did you know about that when we bought the place?"

"Of course," Giles replied, vaguely, "Which is why I suggested it in the first place... All the easier to defend the hellmouth if we live on it."

"I wouldn't say that," Faith remarked, "Seems to me like we're just asking for even repairs by Xander... After all, demons are attracted to a hellmouth. How're we supposed to sleep safe at night when we know some horrible beastie could show up at any moment?"

"You've done fairly well for the last two months, Faith, I don't see any reason for that to change now," said Giles, putting the book he had back in place, and grabbing another. Faith looked kind of sheepish, and hopped down from the banister she was perched on and left the room. Giles watched her and shook his head, "Summer, there's a book on ancient rituals on the top level... would you get it? It shouldn't be hard to spot, it's the only one in German..."

The brunette nodded, shoving her square-rimmed glasses farther up her nose, a determined look in her blue-grey eyes. She was a girl who aimed to please, especially when it came to Giles. She was a great assistant when research was involved, though she didn't much care for learning to fight. She kept at her training, though whenever Buffy or Faith took the newer girls out, Summer often opted to stay behind, and help Giles, Willow, and Xander. She was what some might have called a "desk knight". She knew how to do the physical aspect of her job, she just preffered the academical parts instead.

"Why're you even lookin' for anythin' on the fyarl Demon?" Spike asked, blowing a cloud of smoke in Giles' direction, "You already know what they do, an' why."

"Not looking for the fyarl," said Summer, returning to the ground level, an old leather-bound book in hand, "Looking for anything that would use one... They're muscle for hire, right? We need to eliminate all the unlikely suspects, and keep an eye out for the likely ones, by we of course I mean you."

"Wha'? Why? I'm not th' only one who has t' work around 'ere!" Spike protested, "You're a slayer, you can help out, you know."

"There are several other slayers in the house to choose from, I don't see why _I _have to patrol... I do alot better with research... Ask Giles!"

Before Giles could intervene, and say that Summer was indeed of more use in research than in the field, the large double doors at the end of the room flew open, and Andrew came running in, huffing and puffing. "Th-there's... A group..of... vampires... outside...one was... on the deck... Torrie... staked it..."

"That's our cue," Buffy said, grabbing Spike's arm, dragging him from the library, leaving Giles and Summer to continue their work in a semblance of peace.

--------------

"Anybody ever tell you idiots who lives here?" Faith remarked, from behind the group of fifteen or so vamps, who had gathered at the front of the mansion. They were too focused on the front door to pay attention to the entrances to the passage ways that led under and into the mansion basement. "Attacking a place full of Slayers... Gotta say, not that bright."

Half the vampires turned to her, and growled. "We're not here to kill, Slayer, we're here to-" the one who spoke suddenly stopped, one of Buffy's crossbow bolts sticking through its chest. It was dust in a matter of seconds. "No," said Buffy, stepping up beside Faith, "You're not here to kill... You're here to die."

The demons never even knew what hit them. They were suddenly bombarded by a group of teenage girls, and one vampire, all of which made short work of every vamp but one. That one managed to get away from the main fray, "It's coming back, Slayers! And it wants to give you a little taste of vengeance!" With that, the vampire turned and fled.

"What do you reckon he was on about, B?" Faith asked, wiping vampire-dust off her jeans.

"The First," it was Spike that answered, not Buffy, "Showed up th' night Peaches left th' house in Weedpatch... Tol' me it wanted t' see how long it took for me t' leave as well. You'd think it'd learn by now, I'm not easy t' get rid of."

"No," said Alicia, one of the newer Slayers, who didn't like the resident vampire at all, "You're kinda like a cockroach. You just never go away."

"Alicia," Buffy said, a warning tone in her voice, making the girl back down. After a moment, she said "Spike's right... The only one they could be talking about is The First." There were angry groans from the ones who'd actually faced the First, and confused looks from the ones that hadn't.

"I thought the First was gone," Jory asked, ponytailing her ruby-red hair.

"I'll explain in the library..." Buffy replied, heading for the house.

-------------------

Back in the library, there were two lines of people: The ones who'd fought in Sunnydale and the ones who hadn't. The only one who broke the rule was Cory, who was sitting next to Buffy, wrapping a strand of her own black hair around her finger repeatedly. Buffy surveyed the group in front of her.

Torrie; sixteen, pale skin, shocking blue hair streaked with bright red, dressed in a red and black plaid skirt, and white lace top, brown eyes, and a rainbow of colorful designs down her arms.

Kally; fifteen, black, hair in various braids, in a t-shirt and overalls, and an imaginative writer.

Jory; thirteen, tanned skin, nose and cheeks covered in freckles, dark ruby-red hair, wearing a tank-top and jeans, both of which were stained with ink and paint, much like her hands, as she spent her free time doing art.

Summer; seventeen, curly brunette hair, freckled skin, blue-grey eyes, and square-rimmed glasses in a long-sleeved shirt, and pleated skirt.

Brandie; twelve, braided dishwater-blonde hair wearing a baggy sweater and shorts, various bits of paper sticking from her pockets, as she often carried notes about her computer work.

Anne; sixteen, light brown hair cut boyishly short, in a baggy pair of green pants and a blank tank top, she wore color-changing contacts, making her eyes a very bright violet.

Alicia; eighteen, burgundy hair, forest green halter-top, and black pants, everything about her screamed bratty.

And finally Gisselle; fifteen, naturally platinum blonde hair, and snow-white skin, with the lightest dusting of freckles over her face, emerald green eyes, and wearing a pale blue dress.

"It looks like The First is back," said Buffy plainly, "Now, none of you have faced it before... We have. You don't know what it's capable of. We do. You're not ready to fight this thing, if it wants to fight, and neither are we. Jory, Brandie, you're not to leave the mansion, you'll help with research. Summer, you'll also help out with research. The rest of you, you're going to start patrolling every night with the rest of us. For tonight we sleep... Tomorrow, we have a party to plan."

"Huh?" said just about everyone in the room. Buffy turned to Dawn, and smiled, "Not every day your baby sister turns seventeen... The First, with all its plans can wait. We haven't had a decent amount of fun since we got here."

------------------

Later that night, Buffy lay in bed, next to Spike, pretending to be asleep. She was pretending, because she wanted to see how Spike was going to reacte to their nightly visitor, who hadn't yet worked up the courage to wake one of them up. It was midnight by the time the door opened, and shut quietly, and small bare feet padded on the carpet. Perhaps tonight Cory would attempt to wake one of them up. Buffy just barely opened one eye, and looked at the plump little girl who stood next to Spike's side of the bed, biting her lip. Carefully, and slowly, Cory reached out and tapped Spike's arm lightly. When she got no response, she tried again, and again. Finally, Spike opened one eye, and gave the girl a look of deepest loathing.

"What?" he grumbled, yawning.

"I can't sleep," Cory replied, steadily, "It's too quiet. "

"So go make some noise or somethin', just leave me alone," Spike grumbled.

"But if I make noise then I can't sleep," Corrine reasoned, "And I don't like being alone."

"Bloody hell... So go t' Dawn."

"Can't I stay in here with you and Buffy?" after a moment, she put on a pout, and added, "Please?"

Spike sighed deeply, and just buried his face in his pillow. Cory took this to be a yes, and clambered over the vampire, and squeezed herself between him, and Buffy, and curled up into a ball. Buffy couldn't help a small smile of amusement. It was probably the "please" and the pout that had worn Spike down. Cory could pout as well as any Summers girl, and she wasn't one to ask nicely for things very often. "Can't believe I've gone this bloody soft," Spike muttered, as Buffy drifted off to sleep.

-------------

I wasn't sure when Dawn's birthday was, so I figured I'd make up the date myself... And I apologize if I got the age wrong as well... Also, I couldn't resist that last scene... That was just too tempting, and I gave in... They ain't ever gonna have a kid, so why not give 'em Cory:p


	5. Birthday Fun and Phone Calls

Well, here's chapter five. Another written while I was sick, so bear with me. I assure you, chapter six was written while I was virus free, so it should be back to being as good as the first chapters were... Better actually, since Oz is back, next chap. Anyway, I would have posted this yesterday, but i was hoping for a couple more reviews... The more review, the more I write :p(old bribe, I know)

anyway, enjoy this one.

CHAPTER FIVE: Birthday Fun, and Phone calls

Spike watched his Slayer as she went through her morning work-out. There hadn't been much time in the last months for much talk. They were always patrolling, or training the newcomers. He supposed he could have just talked to her when they were patrolling, but he really didn't want to say the things he had to say in front of several teenage girls. He had plenty to say to Buffy, after the speech she had given him the night Angel had left, it was getting the time, and the right words in mind. He didn't think she understood just how much he loved her... Sure, he wasn't going to turn into the giddy idiot he'd been when Willow had cast her 'will be done' spell, and made the remark that they should get married, hence leading to rather sickening behavior from both of them, but he was certainly head-over-heels in love with Buffy. Finding the right words stopped him... Any time they were alone, and he started to say something, he got tongue tied, which wasn't a normal thing for him. He'd been a bloody poet, after all! Words were supposed to be easy for him. But dammit, Buffy made his tongue trip over its self... In more ways than one.

Maybe he'd say something to her tonight, when they started Dawn's party. Granted, he'd have an audience then, but maybe that was what he needed.

His attention was brought back to Buffy, when Michelle, and the Nibblet joined her. The Little bit started to hum, as she sparred with Michelle. It was a tune Spike recognized. Smirking, he decided he'd talk to Dawn later, and request that she set something up for him. Sure, what he had in mind was against his character, but he didn't care. It was a way to spark the appropriate conversation with Buffy, _and _he could enjoy her being totally embarrased at the same time... It was brilliant. Humming the tune of "Pet Semetary" quietly, he continued to watch the girls. The first time he and Buffy had kissed had been years before, when she was in college, before she'd been too involved with Captain Cardboard. Granted, that had been because of Willow, and both he and Buffy had been rather distraught over the whole thing. So the first real kiss, with no spells working on them, had been after Joyce died, when Spike had put up with torture rather than tell that whorish hellgod Glory who the key was. That had certainly been a shock for Spike. A good one, but a surprise nevertheless.

It was strange to think that he'd been terrified when he'd first realized he was falling for the Slayer... That had been when he was dating Harmony (one of his worse mistakes). He hadn't wanted to believe it then... and when Buffy found out, neither had she. If anyone had told him back then that he would be with Buffy, really with her, in the sense that all her friends knew, she wasn't ashamed of it, and didn't feel guilty about it, then he probably would still be laughing hysterically. As much as he would have liked it to turn out like this back then, he wouldn't have believed it in a million years (and unless he got dusted, that was most likely a literal statement). As it was, he kept expecting to wake up in either his crypt or in the Summers' basement, and find that all this had been a dream, and Buffy was back to hating his guts more often than not.

In a way, Spike almost missed their constant fighting, granted, not getting punched by her all the time was probably better for his face, but a good fight was always fun, especially when it ended as their fights often had... Or had until he'd gotten his soul back, and had gone mad. Insanity. That was a fun thing to remember. Not. He'd been so bad off, that when Buffy'd rescued him from the First, he'd thought she WAS the First, or just a dream. After all, how many dreams had he had of her saving him? Always with that same sentence playing over and over in his head "she believes in me, she believes in me,".

-------------------

Buffy sparred with some of the girls, as she did every morning, to test both her own reflexes, and theirs. The library was often their training room, much to Giles' dismay. He often complained that they had several empty rooms they could turn into proper training rooms, and that always ended in him scolding Xander for not fixing up one of the said rooms so they wouldn't have an excuse. Buffy wondered if Xander only put it off because he knew it made Giles mad. She searched for Giles for a moment, expecting to see him glaring at her, and her growing group of partners, instead she found Spike watching her with his trademark smirk... Though this time the smirk had just a little bit more attitude behind it than normal.

He was thinking up trouble. She threw him the smallest of smiles, something she found herself doing whether she wanted to or not. Whenever Giles, or Xander would catch her looking at Spike with that smile, they'd either just roll their eyes, or decide to get her attention. In Giles' case that meant cleaning his glasses furiously, and clearing his throat. In Xander's it was snapping his fingers in front of her face, and saying something like "Hey, eyes off dead boy jr. there's work to do." Everyone else knew to leave her alone by then.

Alicia's foot connecting with her shoulder brought her back to reality. She hadn't been paying attention to her fighting. Oh well. Alicia, as good as she _thought _she was, was easy to beat. Buffy could, and had beaten her blindfolded before. She didn't know why, but Alicia just didn't get along well with anybody in the house. She challenged Buffy and Faith's leadership constantly, she refused to even pick up a book when research was needed, and a snide remark was quicker to come from her mouth than a polite one. At first, it had seemed as if Spike was the object of her dislike, but it had become apparent that she just didn't like any of them. Also, she was far to cocky for her own good. She voiced complaints about being the oldest of the new slayers, and still having to stick around the house and train, instead of patrolling with Buffy, Faith, Rona, Michelle, Kennedy and Vi. Well now she was going to get to patrol. And Buffy couldn't help but hope that she had to be helped, her first night out... Maybe that would put her down a notch or three.

---------------------

Willow sat on her bed, flipping through one of her various magic books. She had built up quite a library now, and she practiced with her magic often, now that she had it under control. No longer did she feel that taste of addiction when she used a spell, nor did she feel like she was losing herself. The spell she'd done with the scythe (which was down in the armory, set up in a display.) had pulled her powers into control. Muttering to herself about a spell, she got up, and started to leave the room. The phone ringing stopped her. Every bedroom had a separate line, as well as a single line for the dining room, living room, library, and bar/game room. The separate ones in the bedrooms were necessary when you lived in a house with twenty-two people, especially when fifteen of those were young girls. It really was strange to think of how many people were in the mansion. Good thing that many of the older girls were thinking of renting their own places in town... The ones that had jobs anyway. Andrew was already working on moving his things out, and to a small apartment in town. Robin was trying to convince Faith to rent a place with him, as well, and the dark-haired slayer was slowly caving.

Sighing, Willow answered the phone. "Hello?"

'Willow?" said a familiar voice, "Willow Rosenburg?"

"Y-yes. Who is this?"

"Willow, it's Oz," of course! She should have known. Willow was pretty sure her heart skipped several beats when he said his name.

"O-Oz? What- how- why-," she couldn't get out a full sentence. She really had no clue why Oz could do that too her. Well, yes, she did. She would always love Oz, no matter who else she fell for. "W-why are you calling?"

"Willow, I need your help... I'm in Salisbury now... I didn't want to barge in on you, so I thought I should call first... If you don't want me there, that's understandable... "

"No... No, you can come here... I- it's just... It's been so long... This... This is a shock... And, I- I think I'm hyperventilating... "

Oz chuckled quietly. "Sorry to surprise you... Look, I don't have to be there, if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine!... W-when will you be here?"

"Is tomorrow morning alright? I would come tonight, but that might be kind of sudden..."

"Tomorrow morning's fine... Great, in fact... I- uh, I gotta go... Giles... Giles wants a spell done... I'll see you tomorrow... I guess."

"Definitely."

------------------

"Willow, are you alright?" Giles was asking, as Willow slipped off into her own little world. Her brief talk with Oz had left her head spinning. He was actually going to be there... Whether that was a good thing or not, she didn't know... After all, last time he'd come around, he'd gone all wolfy and attacked her girlfriend. Who was to say he wouldn't again? But then, he'd attacked Tara because he figured out that Willow was in love with her, and wolves, well wolves mated for life... But would he do the same with Kennedy? She cared for Kennedy, yes, but it wasn't the eternal all consuming love she'd had for Tara, or the always-present love she still held for Oz. She didn't see her relationship with Kennedy lasting as long as the one with Tara might have, if she'd lived, or the one with Oz might have, if he hadn't left. Maybe that would be enough that Oz wouldn't become his furry half... Though now she thought about it, it wasn't a full moon. The full moon was long past.

"Willow!" Giles called again, this time louder, bringing the witch back into reality.

"Oh, uh, sorry... What were you saying?"

Giles only shook his head, and continued to rant, while Willow yet again slipped back into her own world.

------------------

That evening, when they were all gathered in the library, and rather enjoying Dawn's party. Dawn herself was just waiting for the time to come around for Spike's little plan for Buffy and him. He'd approached her earlier about it, and she'd agreed. As a matter of fact, she had a small speech set up, just to let Buffy know what she was in for, without giving her time to escape, or argue. She looked up at the clock, and grinned. _Here we go. _She cleared her throat, and started to speak.

"Well, this has been fun. Not what a Summers' birthday generally turns out to be, since we're sorta lacking in demons," at Spike's cough of "me", she nodded in his direction, "Demons who're tearing the place up anyway, Spike. Anyway, since there's a serious lack of presents this year," there were many muttered sorrys throughout the crowd. "I have a request to my sister... Well, actually, it's Spike's request, but I think it'll be amusing. In a second I'll start up some music, and Buffy and Spike are gonna sing something. Buffy'll know the song when she hears the music, and I hope she'll know what parts are for her to sing, otherwise, this won't work out right." Dawn looked to her sister, who was alternating between glaring at her, and the smirking blonde vampire. If looks could kill, they'd have been dead. Deciding that it would be better to just start the music, and get out of Buffy's way before she DID end up dead.

She started the music, and Buffy's glare only got meaner. That meant she did recognize it. Good. Dawn passed by both Buffy and Spike, as they worked their way out of the crowd, and heard the slayer whisper "I am SO going to stake you later," to the vamp. Dawn only grinned, and turned to watch them. At least Buffy hadn't refused.

Buffy sighed... She did know the song, and what parts were suited for her to sing... _Guess I'm up first... _

Buffy:  
_I feel it everyday it's all the same_

_It brings me down but I'm the one to blame_

Spike:  
_I've tried everything to get away_

_So here I go again_

Buffy:  
_Chasing you down again_

_Why do I do this?_

Both:  
_Over and over, over and over_

_I fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I try not to_

Spike:  
_It feels like everyday stays the same_

_It's dragging me down and I can't pull away_

Buffy:  
_So here I go again_

_Chasing you down again_

Both:  
_Why do I do this?_

Spike:  
_Over and over, over and over_

_I fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I try not to_

Buffy:  
_Over and over, over and over_

_You make me fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_You don't even try_

Both:  
_So many thoughts that I can't get out of my head_

_I try to live without you, every time I do I feel dead_

Buffy:  
_I know what's best for me_

_But I want you instead  
_

Spike:  
_I'll keep on wasting all my time_

Buffy:  
_Over and over, over and over_

_I fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_I try not to_

Spike:  
_Over and over, over and over_

_You make me fall for you_

_Over and over, over and over_

_You don't even try to_

As the song ended, Spike only added insult to injury, in Buffy's opinion, when he swept her up, and kissed her, deeply. Despite the plans of murder, for both him, and Dawn, running through her head, Buffy kissed him back, with just as much passion. She could almost _hear _Giles cleaning his glasses over that one. There were several laughs, and wolf-whistles from their companions, and a few scoffs of disdain. Spike smiled, against Buffy's lips. He could hear her questions now, and that was what he'd been aiming for. Though his chances of not making it through the night had just gone way up. Especially if she meant what she'd said about staking him.

Oh well. He'd find out.

-------------------

Dawn was rather pleased with the way the rest of the evening went. After Buffy and Spike's duet, there was cake and ice creamy goodness that no birthday was comeplete without. Willow worked a spell for her, that made butterflies constructed purely of magic fly around the room. This resulted in Corrine running around, and desperately trying to catch them, which was plenty of entertainment on it's own.

"Having fun, Dawn?" Robin asked, leaning against the wall, as Dawn laughed at Cory.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Been a while since any of us just let loose and had fun, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has. Though I think Faith has a different idea of fun," he jerked his head in the direction of a very bored looking Faith.

Dawn shrugged, "Her idea of fun generally lies in the club, and sex variety. This probably seems pretty tame to her. Have you convinced her to move out with you yet?"

"Almost... Just give me a few more days, and she'll be convinced."

"Personally, I'll be glad when a couple people leave... Sure, even with as many people as we have, the place isn't crowded, but it's still tough, living with so many people. "

"I hear you. Why do you think I want out of here? I think they'll all leave eventually, and get places of their own. A couple might venture off to other hellmouths to start protecting people there... Which I think is the idea... Now if you'll excuse me, I think Faith is looking for me. Happy Birthday." With that, Dawn's former principal left.

So, it had turned out to be one of the tamest birthdays in a long time for the Summers family, but it was also proving to be a great one.

--------------------

Hope you enjoyed it. Couple of things I'd like to mention: I'm aware that song didn't exist in 2003, but it was just too perfect. Also, if you're wondering, it's "Over and Over" by Three Days Grace.

"Pet Semetary", as some of you may know, is by The Ramones, who we all know Spike likes. (in fact, he was singing "I wanna be Sedated" the night he first told Buffy he loved her. )

Also, Pet Semetary is from the soundtrack of the movie by the same name. Movie is based on Stephen King's book, also, by the same name, and I highly suggest reading it. Along with anything else by Stephen King :p


	6. Oz

Well, here is chapter Six... I was going to wait to post it, but you see, I recently finished chapter 8, and I am eager to get to that one, since I am particularly proud of it's ending :p

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. Oz finally makes an appearance, which should please you. Forgive me if he seems a little off... Oz is a difficult character to write, considering he never says much, and keeps to himself... But I did my best.

CHAPTER SIX: Oz

"I should be staking you right about now," Buffy was saying to Spike, as they walked towards the cemetery for a little post-party patrolling, "What was the point of the song anyway?"

Spike chuckled as he dug through his duster for his cigarettes, "T' spark th' right conversation with you, love. Things've been headin' back t' th' way they were, 'fore yours truly got his soul back. That is o' course, excludin' th' violence. In other words, ain't been much time for talk, of late, pet, and we both know that's a doomed route."

"Point taken, but did you _have _to make me sing?" the Slayer complained, "You couldn't have just started a conversation?"

"No one said I couldn't have any fun in gettin' somethin' goin', pet," the vampire replied, lighting his last cigarette, and taking a long drag from it, and blowing a ring of smoke in Buffy's direction. She gave him a look that clearly said he would be dust in the wind if he did it again. After a few moments of silence, Spike continued, "You didn't sleep last night."

"Neither did you," Buffy retorted.

"How did you expect me too with th' little bundle of slayer energy tossin' an' turnin' every which way all night?" Buffy smirked, and shook her head, as her lover became serious, "But I mean, you haven't been sleepin' at all, this past week... Somethin' botherin' you, love?"

"Nightmares," Buffy stated, plainly, running a hand through her hair, "Every night, when I do manage to force myself to sleep... " they had reached the cemetery by now. Buffy perched atop a headstone, and sighed. It still felt kind of odd, telling Spike the things that bothered her. two months of some semblance of peace, and love was at war with months of guilt, shame, and self-loathing, as well as the years of sheer hate that had come before that. All in all, it left Buffy's head trying to grasp things, which usually ended in one hell of a headache. "I keep seeing everyone... You, the girls, the scoobies, all of you, dead... Over and over, always in the same way, and I'm stuck in the midst of all the bodies, covered in the blood... But, there's someone else there... I can never tell who, but, he seems familiar...And he just laughs, and tells me that I've done this, that I've killed everyone I care about... That I'm the one who should be dead, not everyone else... No matter what I do, I keep seeing those bodies every time I close my eyes... If I didn't know better, I'd say the First has decided to go all nightmarey to try and drive me mad..."

Spike, whom had moved behind her while she spoke to gently massage her shoulders, said, "Well, it'll bloody well fail, won' it? You're too strong t' let some big bad have that much of a hold on you."

Buffy sighed, and leaned back against him, "I wouldn't say that... I know one's got a pretty firm hold. Maybe he can chase the other one away?"

She titled her head to look up at the vampire. He'd recently stopped holding his hair in place with various gels, so the platinum curls were free. His blue eyes sparkled for a moment at what she was suggesting, before he leaned down and caught her lips in an almost upside-down kiss. Sure, their relationship took some getting used to, but neither was going to complain. When Spike broke the kiss, and move in front of the slayer, Buffy took his hand, and ran her fingers over the burn scar that nearly covered the entire top of it. It was identical to Buffy's own scar. Neither had said anything to the other, but to both, those scars represented a deep bond between them, that wouldn't be easily broken. Buffy hopped off the headstone, and laced her fingers with Spike's mimicking the way they'd stood in that cave, when Sunnydale had been falling down around their ears, and neither had cared. Before Buffy even spoke again, Spike knew there wouldn't be any patrolling done that night.

"I love you," said Buffy, with every bit as much love and respect in her eyes as she'd had in Sunnydale.

"So I've heard, Slayer," Spike replied, but in truth, he never tired of hearing those words come out of her mouth... Not when he had gone so long just hoping she would say it.

"I have alot of missed chances to make up for. You'll be hearing it alot. "

Okay, so maybe things hadn't gone the way Spike had planned, but when Buffy looked at him like she was right then, not bothering to disguise the unadulterated lust in her eyes, he couldn't have cared less.

---------------------

Summer sighed impatiently and drummed her fingers against the book she was holding. She was supposed to lecturing her fellow slayers-in-training on combat strategy, but they were trying to get Willow to tell them why she was so fidgety that morning. She pulled her glasses off, and cleaned them, in a very Giles-like manner, as she waited for their attention to turn back to their lessons. Even Dawn had abandoned her. Then again, Dawn was never an attentive student when it was on the subject of combat strategy. The only time she payed proper attention was when Summer moved on to a watcher's duties. While there had been some talk of starting the watcher's council anew, there had been no definite decision. If there was, Summer was betting Dawn was to be one of the new watchers. Maybe even Andrew, and Robin. Giving up on getting her students back until Willow caved, and told them what had her bothered, Summer dropped her book on the table often used when the group hit serious research mode, and looked towards Giles, and shrugged.

Giles returned the shrug, as well as a sympathetic look that clearly said he knew all too well how teenage girls could be when it came to lessons. Of course, he should. He'd been Buffy's watcher, and sort of Faith's, as well. Personally, Summer felt sorry for any watcher who'd been stuck with Faith. There was a rebel if she ever saw one. The only people in the whole house that she even came close to listening to were Buffy, and Robin.

The doorbell suddenly chimed, and Willow nearly jumped out of her skin. Fidgeting, the redhead nearly ran to the front door, her girlfriend following behind her, a confused, and slightly annoyed look on her face. Nervously, Willow opened the door to reveal a familiar face. She had forgotten that she was taller than her ex. He stood there with that all-to familiar passive smirk on his face, as Willow took a moment to look him over. Oz was exactly as she remembered him. A glance at his hand revealed he still wore the beads that helped keep his wolf-side under control.

"Willow," Oz said, calmly, and casually.

_Ohhh, damn him for being so... so calm, a-and- _Willow thought, before interrupting her own thought-process by speaking, "O-oz! You...you're here... A-and... Well, you're really here!" She silently cursed herself for being such an idiot. What it was about Oz that could make her revert back to the way she'd been in highschool, she had no clue.

"Well, unless I'm an astral projection, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm really here," Oz replied, evenly. How was he able to be so casual? A tap on her shoulder brought the witch out of her daze. She moved, so that Kennedy was no longer blocked from view, and at the same time, she ushered Oz inside.

"Kennedy, this is Oz. Oz, this is Kennedy..."

She would leave the girlfriend part out. No sense in risking bringing Oz's wolfy half out, though she truly felt that was only when he felt that he was truly challenged in getting her affections. Even though it shamed Willow to admit it, Kennedy didn't come close to taking Oz's place, as Tara had. This was going to be a difficult visit, especially if Willow kept getting the urge to just latch on to Oz, and kiss him, as she was now. _No, bad Willow. No thoughts like that... Gay now. Gay now. Gay now. Very gay now... _Her girlfriend, and her ex shook hands politely, though there was much tension in the air, Most came from Kennedy, who looked as though she was feeling extremely threatened.

"Oz?!" said several voices from the door to the library. Dawn, Buffy, and Xander. From then on there was a flurry of activity. Greetings, handshakes, hugs, introductions, so on and so forth. By the time it was over, and all twenty-plus people were settled down in, (where else?) the library, Willow was rather uncomfortable. Mostly because Kennedy had practically glued herself to the witch, and wasn't letting her out of her sight. Oh yeah. The slayer felt very threatened by the werewolf. And worse, Willow felt she had reason to be.

"You said on the phone that you needed help?" the witch prompted, not taking her eyes from the man.

"Yeah, I did... I've been seeing this thing, lately... Showing up, looking like people I used to know..."

"Wouldn't happen to be only dead people, would it?" Xander asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, actually," Oz replied, "You guys already know about it?"

There were nods all around, "That would be The First," said a soft whispery voice from the back of the group. That was Gisselle. She rarely spoke. When she did, it was always as if she were afraid to be heard, "It only appears as dead people."

"The First?" Oz asked, clearly confused.

"The First evil," said Giles, "It summoned an army recently in Sunnydale... We beat it, and apparently it wants a little payback, though it has left us alone, until the night before last."

"It's got your run-o'-th'-mill vamps workin' for it, this time," said Spike, his arm draped over Buffy's shoulders. Oz did a double-take that that sight. Last time he'd been around, the vampire hadn't exactly been a welcome member of the gang, much less had any sort of permission to touch Buffy. He decided he'd ask Willow about that later.

"Why's it bothering me, though? No offense, but you guys are the ones who annoyed it, not me."

"None taken," said Buffy, "And it just likes to mess with people in any way it can... Right Xander?"

"Oh yeah," said Xander, remembering his encounter with the First, when it had appeared as Anya. He hadn't said anything, but since that visit, he hadn't gone a single night without dreaming of Anya. Not a single night. Some dreams were better than others, but some were down right frightening. Yet in some small way, he didn't want it to stop... Not if he got to keep seeing her. The dreams, and the photos he kept in his wallet at all times were the only things he had left of the woman he loved. "It likes to toy with you... Had Spike here killing people."

"Isn't that what he normally does?" Oz asked, as if it were an obvious thing. When he saw the looks he was getting, particularly a glare from the vampire, he defended himself, "I'm sorry. It's just, last time I was around, everyone hated him-"

"some of us still do," Xander coughed, and gave Buffy an entirely too innocent look, as Oz continued, "And now I come back, and he's on friendly terms with you guys... And apparently really friendly terms with Buffy."

"Uh, it's a long story." said Buffy, "Right now, I think our main concern should be what the First is up to... don't you?"

---------------------

Kennedy watched through the window with a glare as Willow and Oz walked side-by-side across the grounds. She didn't know why, but she was feeling extremely jealous. Willow had told her of Oz, whom had been her only real relationship before Tara, and even knowing that the witch had chosen Tara over Oz, she couldn't help but wonder what would have been her lover's choice if it had been _her _or Oz. She had the feeling that Willow would have ended up a little less gay and a lot more straight. She turned, and headed for the front door to go interrupt whatever conversation they were having that was making Willow laugh so much, when she nearly collided with Giles. He seemed to have purposefully put himself in her way.

He shook his head, and said one word, before walking off. "Don't. "

The slayer fought the urge to follow him, and shout at him, and returned to the window. Oz and Willow were no longer in plain sight. They were off, farther away, in amidst the three or four rows of weeping willows that surrounded the mansion, making sort of a curtain around it. There were a few, within the "tree fence" as several of the others reffered to it, that had been specially clipped and trimmed to form perfect domes, with one area of branch-free entrance. All of them had a bench, or chairs under them. They had been like that when they'd bought the place, though the branches of the inner willows hadn't draped themselves in quite the perfect way they did now, nor had their thin branches reached the ground. Willow had fixed that the day they moved in, saying that her namesake deserved to fit the image most people had in their heads when they thought of them. And boy did they. She had even gone so far as to help the trees that surrounded the mansion, making the branches thicker, longer, and stronger, and even creating a few points of entry, so one wouldn't have to try and pick their way through the branches.

Someone, Kennedy wasn't quite sure, but her money was on Dawn, had taken a few of the silk lamps they'd found in the storage room, fit them with candles, instead of lightbulbs, and stuck one each under the inner willows. So far, Kennedy and Willow had spent every evening beneath one of those trees, with the soft glow of candle-light on them... And now someone was here who could threaten that... That realization made the desire to go outside and interrupt resurface.

-----------------

"So, Sunnydale's off the map, you were evil, Xander nearly got married, Faith's a goodguy, there are Slayers everywhere, and Spike and Buffy are together... Alot has happened," Oz listed off all the things Willow had just told him. "That last one, oddly enough, seems like the least likely thing of the rest combined."

"Well, it's true!" said a chipper Willow. She was feeling oddly happy in Oz's presence, "I would say it has to do with his being all soul-having, and all, but things started before that." She looked towards the mansion, feeling as though she were being watched, "It's a bit tough, living with so many people... Especially since most are teenagers... I think some of them'll be moving into town soon. It'll be a relief, to have a few less people in the house." She was about to add something else when something suddenly attatched its self to her legs, hugging her fiercely.

"Willow!" cried a child's voice. Willow pried Corrine off her legs.

"Cory, what are you doing out here? You know you're not supposed to leave the house."

Oz smiled, and backed off a bit as the black-haired child looked up at his ex-girlfriend and said, "Well, I didn't get a hug from you today..." something seemed to click in her head, "I didn't hug Buffy either..." with that, the girl suddenly raced towards the house, without a second glance back.

Willow grinned, and turned to Oz, "Sorry...She's a little starved for attention... Me, Buffy and Spike found her in an orphanage, and we were the first people to show her any real affection, so she kinda stuck to us. We get a hug every morning from her... Except for Spike. He only gets a hug sometimes, when he's in a less bitey mood. "

Oz laughed, and shook his head, "A kid hugging Spike... That's a weird thought."

Willow laughed, and they continued on their walk through the trees. Somehow, this wasn't turning out as awkward as she had first thought it would. Maybe things could work out like this. Oz had accepted their invitation to stay for a while, while the figured out what The First wanted with him, and once the initial weirdness had worn off at him actually being there, Willow found that she could talk with him comfortably, even if she was in an overly cheery mood.

She couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before the dread at her girlfriend's jealousy set in.

---------------------------------------------

Oh and if Kennedy being that jealous seems off... How would you feel?

Personally, I think Ken is the jealous type...


	7. Touble and Travel

Well, here is chapter Seven for your enjoyment...

Now, there is a movie reference in this chapter, spot it (which shouldn't be too hard), and name the movie, and you get cookies :P

CHAPTER SEVEN: Trouble and Travel

The game room/bar was generally a good place to go, if you wanted to be alone, and block out the noises from the rest of the mansion. Also if you just wanted to sit back, relax, enjoy a drink or two, and play a card game, or pool. It was sort of like a substitute for The Bronze. Today however, it did little to block out noises, and it wasn't a good place for being alone. Torrie, Gisselle, Dawn, and Anne sat at one of the small round tables, playing a game of poker, betting on silly little things, like nail polish, or pieces of jewelry, even a bit of cash here and there. Buffy was at the bar, with Giles, and Oz, having a beer, while Xander, as always, took on the role of bartender that evening. Spike, and Vi were engaged in a game of pool, in which they were currently tied. Robin, Faith, and Alicia sat at another of the tables, talking battle tactics. So that was the problem with being alone. The noise problem was emenating from the second floor, where Willow and Kennedy were having a rather heated argument. They'd already been at it for an hour, and just when it seemed that they were quieting down, the argument got louder. At first, Kennedy had been the most vocal, now it was Willow.

It had started, when Kennedy had made some passing remark about Oz, and had set Willow off. It had been tense between them, until finally, Kennedy had just let it all out. Now it seemed, it was the witch's turn, and she was making use of it.

Oz sighed, taking a swig of beer, "I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't have come."

"If you're blaming yourself, don't," said Giles, "Kennedy has been jealous from the day you arrived. I caught her watching you and Willow like a hawk when you were outside... I stopped her from going out and starting a fight then... It seems a week in your company has simply been too much for her to not say something."

"I'll simplify that," said Buffy, taking her second mug of beer from Xander, "Kennedy finds the easiest thing to complain, or fight about, and uses it. Should have seen her when she was a potential... She was always getting on my nerves with that attitude of hers."

Before any reply could be made, a door slammed on the second floor, followed by loud stomping, and seconds later, the sound of the front door slamming, and the slight tinkling of breaking glass. Xander sighed, and shook his head, "That will be the third time this month I've had to replace glass on that damn door..."

Moments later, Willow stormed into the room, a nervous-looking Summer following in her wake. The latter waved frantically to Giles, whom sighed, and left the room, much to Summer's relief. She had no desire to be in a room with an angry Willow. The aforementioned witch slumped down into a chair, at the last table in the room, groaning in frustration. All eyes were on her for several moments, before she realized she was being watched. As soon as she looked up, everyone quickly turned back to what they'd been doing, trying to look as though nothing was wrong, If Wil wanted to tell them what happened, she would. Though it wasn't likely going to be while there were so many present.

The girls, once finished with the poker game -which Anne won, as she always did-, were the first to leave. Faith and Robin were next, saying they needed to get plenty of sleep, so they could be up early the next morning to go apartment hunting, as Robin had finally won Faith over in the matter of moving out of the mansion with him. Alicia followed them, as she was on even less friendly terms with a few of the remaining people than she had been several days before, which might have been due to her severely getting her ass kicked by a demon on her first night patrolling. Oz and Xander both left at the same time, Oz because he'd been trying to get some reaction from Willow, and got none, and Xander because he was having trouble keeping his eye open, and went into yawning fits every thirty seconds or so. Buffy finally left, for much the same reasons as Xander. Vi finally left, after losing a third game of pool, leaving Spike and Willow as the last ones in the room.

"Care for a game, Red?" Spike asked, though he didn't really expect an answer, Willow hadn't made so much as a noise since she'd come in.

Willow shrugged, "Why not?" She got up from her chair as Spike prepared everything.

They played in silence for a long while, before Willow spoke again, "I don't know what I should do... " She really couldn't believe she was about to say what she was thinking of saying, to Spike of all people, "I still love Oz... I always will... But, I'm with Kennedy, and I do care about her, but not as much as I care for Oz, or Tara... Part of my mind says screw Kennedy, and tell Oz... But the other tells me I'm with Kennedy, and I can't just dump her 'cause my old boyfriend's back..."

Spike paused for a moment, before making his shot. Then he chuckled, in a sort of 'this-is-a-stupid-thing-to-worry-about' way, "What it is with you bints, an' not listenin' t' your bloody heart?" He leaned on his pool cue and studied her for a moment, "Look Red, if you love th' furry bloke, tell 'im. Trust me, it'll be better for th' both o' you in th' end. If th' part o' you that's not over Oz tells you t' tell that rude bint t' hit th' road, then do it." He watched as she took her shot, and then prepared for his, "Women an' their crazy notions on wha' t' do 'bout love... Near bad as Buffy was..." the Vampire muttered to himself, as he and Willow continued their game in silence.

Willow however was processing his words. She almost wanted to agree with his logic... Okay, more than almost. But would that really solve things? As she'd said, she did care for Kennedy, and didn't want to hurt her... But she couldn't deny that during the last several days, she'd felt an extreme desire to just go to Oz and get it all out... Nor could she deny, as much as it pained her, that Kennedy had gotten annoying in the past few days, with her jealous glares, and snide remarks... The final straw had come earlier, when she had muttered, rather quickly, something about cheating, and Oz. Willow didn't exactly remember what it was her girlfriend had said, but she'd heard enough of it to know what she was implying.

------------------

The group of vampires was thirty or so in numbers. They had several fyarl demons with them as well, as they were the easiest to control. It wouldn't be long now, before they set their plans in motion... They were just waiting for the go-ahead from their employer, and several more of their brethren to join them. Thirty may have been more working together than they were used to, but they were sure it would take more than that to fight a house full of Slayers. How they were supposed to get into the house, they weren't quite sure, but it had something to do with their employer's newfound body. It would likely be explained later. Or they hoped, anyway.

-----------------

It was a quick fight. The slayers and the Scoobies made short work of the ten or so vamps that had shown up on the doorstep. At Faith's suggestion, they left one alive, for questioning. With her buddies dust, she seemed to be quite ready to talk. Or, she did for a moment anyway, then she seemed to develop a case of selective amnesia, saying she remembered nothing about the person who'd sent her and her gang there. A short round of kick-the-vamp jogged her memory quite well, in Buffy's opinion. Though not well enough.

"Alright, alright!" the rather sleazy looking vampiress coughed, blood spraying from her mouth with every word, after her chest and lungs met the pointy end of Kally's sword, "It was a woman in London... I don't know her name."

"Gonna have to do better than that," said Buffy, nodding to Anne, who was looking eager to get some blows in. The petite girl slammed her fist into the vamp's stomach, making the demon groan, and cough up all the more blood. There was a mutter of disgust from Michelle, whose shoes were now covered in it. "How about an address, or a description... Hell, demon type works, too. Start talking before I let all these girls have a go at you."

The vampire's eyes widened at the thought of being beaten by so many slayers. She started talking so fast it was hard to understand her, "Okay, okay! She's in the clock tower... Big Ben... That's where I met her... She told me to get my gang together, and attack here... I don't know why..."

"I think that's enough info, B," said Faith, "Can we stake her now?"

"What? But I told you what you wanted to know!" The vampire whined, her tone grating on Buffy's nerves, "I won't attack any of you I-" the only noise she made after that was a scream as she turned into dust.

"That was for having about the most annoying voice in the country," said a very, very annoyed Kennedy. She had been itching to kill something since her fight with Willow the night before. Now she'd gotten her wish, and she still didn't feel any better. She hadn't said even two words to Wil since their argument, and she firmly believed that she was in the right of it, and she certainly wasn't going to be the one to apologize. Both Buffy and Faith crossed their arms, and raised their eyebrows at Kennedy, who shrugged, as if suddenly staking a vamp they were getting information from was an every day activity. Nevermind the fact that Faith had wanted to stake her anyway.

------------------

Vamps dusted, and information gathered, they were back in command central. The library. Xander had his feet up on the table, and was leaning his chair back a bit to far for comfort. "Oh!" he gasped as the chair began to tip back way to far, "Gravity works." he said it so plainly, that it was hard to believe any second he was going to- Thud! The chair fell backwards, taking Xander with it, and leaving him in an undignified heap on the floor, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room. Looking rather embarrassed, Xander clambered to his feet and picked his chair up, and sat back down.

"Maybe you should have listened when Batty said that, Xand," said Jory, chuckling. "Next thing we know you'll be bouncing off walls saying 'I know where I am, I _know _where I am!' "

Xander threw a glare at the girl, Giles gave both of them a confused look, as if they were from another planet, a look shared by Spike. Everyone else knew what they were on about. After a few moments, Giles shook his head, and spoke, "Right, well, straight to business... I suppose it's obvious someone's going to have to go to London and find out if this vampire was lying?"

"You think?" Alicia stated, sarcastically, earning glares from all around. _Why doesn't B just kick her out already? _Faith was wondering boredly. _All she is is trouble. _ Her attention returned to Giles, as he continued to speak, as though the brat hadn't just interrupted him. "It could very well be a trap to get most of us out of here. Or the trap could be just sending a few of us to London to get ambushed."

"Giles, enough with the trap theories," Buffy cut him off, knowing when he got started on traps and ambushes, it would be forever before he stopped, "We just need to figure out who's going, and when. I already have an answer for that first one. Spike, Faith, Robin, and I will go. The rest of you, stay here. No patrolling alone until we return, and even then you don't go out unless Rona, Vi, Michelle or Kennedy is with you, understood?" she scanned the faces of all her girls. All nodded, including Alicia.

"No need to worry about me!" Summer piped up, "I think I'll stay in anyway... Help Dawn with her watcher studies." This earned a groan from Dawn who knew that when Summer had extra time to teach a subject, she used it.

Buffy nodded in approval. That would keep Dawn busy at least. She looked at Willow, "Wil, you make sure you put extra protection spells on the house. If they are waiting for some of us to leave, then you can at least get a heads up that something's coming." Willow nodded, though her eyes were glued on Oz, and vice versa.

"Faith, Robin, we'll leave tomorrow. Be ready." She didn't have to tell Spike to be ready. He would be up and about the same time as she was. Which would hopefully be early enough that they could get to London before the sun rose to far. For now, from the look on Giles' face, it was research time. Oh well. That would at least make sure they could all sleep. Being bored to tears had that effect. They all gathered books from the various stacks that ran from one end of the table to the other. What they were looking for, no one was quite sure, but anything that suddenly struck them as important was good. Willow was the first to leave the room, armful of books in tow, saying that she'd do better reading alone. And maybe she would. After all, Kennedy had been shooting her death glares all evening, and Oz had been making what Buffy had once described as "moon eyes" at her. It was probably very distracting.

Spike was next. A heavy silence had filled the room as everyone concentrated on their books. Buffy was about to say she found something on the First, when Spike suddenly slammed the book he'd been reading shut. Without a word, he got up, and strode out of the room, heading for the stairs. Confused, Buffy cocked her head to the side for a moment, before shaking her head, and reciting something she'd read.

-----------------------

Willow sat on her bed, feeling slightly dazed, after her conversation with Spike, Sure, it wasn't the first time he'd brought that topic up with her. He'd been asking her often, since they'd moved there. Come to think of it, he'd even asked the night Angel had left the house in Weedpatch. It was kind of strange, really... Okay, well maybe not. He loved Buffy, and wanted her to be happy... It was only natural that he would want to bec-

"Willow?" said a male voice from the other side of her bedroom door. Oz.

"Come in," she answered, opening the door with a wave of her hand. Oz stepped in, and the door shut of its own accord. "Anything you needed?" the witch asked the werewolf.

Oz shook his head, "I just got the feeling you had something to say. Wolf senses."

"Oh- uh, well, I did... But... I'm not sure if I even can," her breathing sped up, and she tried to force herself to slow down, "I mean... It's been a long time since we, you know... broke up... and this kinda has to do with that, a-and I don't know if... if I can even say this...Ha, I'm hyperventilating again..."

"Wil, just calm down, and breathe," Oz told her, remaining firmly in place, "You've been fine the past several days, so just talk." He was trying to keep the hopeful note out of his voice. This, combined with the way she'd been looking at him all night..._No, no... bad wolf, bad wolf... she's with Kennedy... and as much as I really dislike Ken... _

Willow nodded, and took a deep breath, "Alright, here goes... and if you don't mind I'll just blurt it out, before I lose my nerve... I still love you, Oz... " She had said it... she couldn't believe she'd said it. "I-I understand if you, you know, just leave... But I had to get that off my chest, and soon... But, if you don't leave... think we could just work this out slowly..."

"You don't even have to ask," said Oz, softly. Of course things would have to work out slowly... There was the matter of of Kennedy, and the fact there was some unknown big bad after them (typical, really), and the last few days had been the only time they'd spent together in years. It would be stupid to go fast with things... If anything worked out. It was possible they wouldn't.

-------------------

"Buffy, love," Spike said, hesitantly, as they lay in bed, Buffy's head resting on his bare chest.

"Yeah?" she replied, wondering if he was going to tell her what he'd left the library so fast for.

"Do you ever think about what's goin' t' happen in another, say, ten years?"

_Lord, here we go... _Buffy thought, knowing what was coming, "Yes actually... I think we'll have rebuilt the watcher's council, like we've talked about doing, we'll have found a majority of the new slayers," she decided to mess with him a little bit after that, "I think Andrew and Dawn will have stopped dancing around, and one of them will have asked the other out."

Spike took in a sharp, unnecessary breath at that. The way he acted with Dawn, you'd have thought he was her father, and the subject of boyfriends was one he very much tried to steer her away from. The fact that Buffy had mentioned Andrew only made it worse. Whelp number 2 was almost as much of an annoyance as the original Whelp was... Or maybe even more annoying. He hadn't decided yet. "He better not even think about it..." the vampire growled, making Buffy chuckle.

"In all seriousness," the Slayer continued, "I think I'll still be in love with you, like I am now..."

"But what if there was a way t'-..." Spike let the sentence trail off, "Nevermind... We'll discuss it after this whole thing with th' First is over with, pet..."

Buffy waited a moment, to see if he was going to continue anyway, but he didn't. More than a little confused, she decided she'd worry about it later. Right now she had to try to sleep, as much as was possible.

-------------------

"So, you reckon we can finish moving when we get back?" Robin was asking Faith, as he drove. It was four am in the morning, and the four people currently in the black suburban were all very tired. The two in the back seat were proof of this, as they were dead to the world. Literally, in one case. Robin was left driving, as Faith had been too tired to do so, when they'd left the mansion, and while Buffy had, at that point, been the most awake of the four, she had reminded Robin that she, and driving were unmixy things to begin with, add little sleep and nightmares, and you had a fatal wreck waiting to happen.

"I hope so..." Faith replied, yawning, "I don't think I can take much longer living with all those girls. I don't see how B can stand it. "

"She's just not the loner type, like you are, Faith," the man said, a hint of fondness leaking into his voice. He knew Faith hated for him to go all "lovey-dovey" on her, so he had to keep it in small doses. When in small doses, she usually didn't mind. She didn't seem to mind now either, but then, that may have been because she was tired.

The fact that she was a loner was a true one. It was a surprise that she'd even agreed to move into an apartment in Salisbury with him, after all, she'd made it clear that she wasn't exactly commitment-girl. She reminded him often in fact, though she was still with him, so it was probably more to comfort herself than to remind him that she could be gone at any time. Why she had such a problem with commitment, or rather, the idea that she was capable of it, he had no idea. She'd never told him why, and he didn't press the matter. Truth be told, he didn't want to chase her away. He couldn't say for sure, but he was pretty sure he was falling for the spunky, wild, rebellious slayer. And he couldn't help but think, maybe she was falling for him too, even if she didn't know it yet.

-------------------

Kennedy sat at the bar, half-empty bottle of whiskey in one hand. She'd been listening to Willow's conversation with Oz, and frankly, it hadn't come as a surprise. It still hurt though. No doubt she'd be getting the boot the next day. She looked at the clock, and realized that it was nearly eight am. Okay, so she'd be getting the boot later that day. She hadn't even realized she'd been up that late, just trying to cool down. She hadn't started the drinking until a while before. Above her, she heard the thudding of feet as many of the mansion's occupants made their way down the stairs to get breakfast, and coffee, and then it would be on to their daily training. Not for Kennedy. Not today. She felt she had earned a good day's pout. Maybe she'd go out and patrol that night, but not for long, and not with a group of brats. She preferred to work solo anyway.

She took another swig of the whiskey when she heard Willow's voice, and laughter. Followed by Oz's voice. From what she could gather, they were reminiscing about a conversation they'd had in highschool dealing with french monkeys.

That earned another gulp of the liquor.

--------------------

Both Spike and Robin were waiting rather impatiently for Buffy to get out of the shower. Faith was already done with her's, and was currently trying to dry her hair. Robin and Spike, however, had yet to shower, and Buffy was taking far too long. They were in a rather nice hotel, so there was little danger of the hot water running out, but still. There was the faint sound of singing coming from the bathroom, and Spike smiled slightly. Buffy had the habit of singing in the shower when she was in a good mood. With his better-than-normal hearing, he was able to hear her clearly.

_I don't like to turn the radio on_

_Just to find I missed my favorite song_

_And I don't like to be the last with the news_

_But I do love you, but I do love you_

_Love everything about the way you're loving me_

_The way you lay your head_

_Upon my shoulder when you sleep_

_And I love to kiss you in the rain_

_I love everything you do, oh I do_

Spike shook his head... she was full of songs like that; overly romantic, far too upbeat, and repetitive in some cases (the incident when she had gotten "hey Mickey" stuck in her head, and had sung it for two days straight came to mind). Spike would pass on all that any day. Give him punk rock, and metal any day, preferably from the 80's if possible, since he loved the Ramones. As for newer music, that german band, Rammstein, was a good one. He particularly liked the song "Engel". The chorus being his favorite bit about it.

"Erst wenn die Wolken schlafengehn. kann man uns am Himmel sehn. wir haben Angst und sind allein. Gott weiss ich will kein Engel sein!"

The translation being, "Just as the clouds have gone to sleep, Angels can be seen in heaven's keep. Alone in fear they question why. God damn, not an Angel when I die!"

"Du Hast" was another good one. One he had argued many times with Anne about, as she said the translation was "you have" not "you hate". She hadn't wanted to listen to him when he told her it was all a matter of what part of Germany you were from and going by where the band was from the proper translation was "You Hate". She had dropped the topic after that, saying he knew nothing about languages, and that it was pointless to argue with a numbskull like him. Spike had simply chuckled at her, and let it slide. He had built up a surprising amount of tolerance to the younger slayers, and was able to shrug off most insults that ruder ones had thrown at him when they had first come to live in the mansion. Had this been going on back when Buffy was in college, and he'd still been dead set and determined to get the chip out of his head, he'd have taken every opprotunity he could to annoy them, or, if he'd been successful back then, in getting the chip out, he'd have gone back to enjoy a slayer buffet.

It made him cringe, now, to think that he'd have gone for Corrine first. Partly because the idea of hurting any of the girls brought painful old memories from his pre-soul days back to haunt him, and partly because, even though he wasn't likely to admit it, he'd grown attatched to the little slayer, energizer bunny-like, and annoying as she could be sometimes. She was too young to fully comprehend what he was, so she didn't give him the occasional looks of distrust some of the others did. Not to mention, she was a spunky kid. When he'd gotten up that morning, for some reason, she'd been up and wandering the halls. Why on earth she was up at three-thirty in the morning, he had no clue, but she was. She'd hugged him when she realized he was getting ready to go somewhere, and told him to be careful and not let the "big bad uglies" eat him, and had skipped off too give Buffy the same treatment before heading back to bed.

Spike shook his head at the memory. Cory was certainly an odd child, and strangely mature for being only six.

Finally, the bathroom door opened, and Buffy stepped out, wrapped in a towel, "Sorry about that," she said, with an apologetic smile, "I lost track of time."

"'Bout bloody time, pet," Spike growled, "I was beginnin' t' think you'd be in there till the sun went down."

"I could make that thought come true if you don't shut up," Buffy retorted, taking one step backwards into the bathroom, and smirking at Spike and Robin's identical looks of annoyance. The only difference being Robin's eyes didn't flash yellow for a moment like Spike's did. She stuck her tongue out at both of them, and left them to bicker about whose turn it was for the shower.

By the time nightfall rolled around, they were ready to go demon hunting. Faith was in a particularly desperate mode of "must kill something now".

So it was off into the city streets with them, to see if they couldn't locate the demon responsible for so much annoyance. Or at least an agent of it, since they were all fairly sure The First was behind it all.

Despite that fact, they could still have some fun kicking some demon ass.

--------------------------

annnnd, now you need to hit the review button... Please? -bats eyelashes-


	8. Realizing too Late

Alright, before we begin this chapter, I wanna start by explaining a few of the characters... mostly their origins, since someone asked if Summer was based on a char. from Firefly.

The answer being: No.

Summer: A character I created a while back for my CSI fics. Name was Summer Alexandra Nicole Sidle Grissom. She was alot like she is in this, actually.

Jory: Name I got from two books... one being VC Andrews' Seeds of Yesterday... One of the main character's sons is nicknamed Jory... The other book, which made me decide to use it for a girl was Tamora Peirce's Cold Fire, of the Circle of Magic series... the name was actually Jorality... just Jory for short. The name, however, is the only thing she has in common with Jory and Jorality.

And a character that appears in this chapter, Merideth, is a character I created around christmas time, for a Roleplay game. I am aware that normally the name would be spelled Meredith, but, I'm not one to go with normal.

Anywho, enjoy the chap... I've prattled on enough already...

CHAPTER EIGHT: Realizing Too Late

The demon that they found was one of the most human looking demons that Buffy had come across, save for vampires. She was tall...really tall, and skinny, with luminescant skin, long truly white hair, and a crimson eye. She was likely missing the other, as it was covered with a broad black band of lace. She wore a low-cut cobalt-blue dress that showed off her ample breasts (or more like just barely held them in- the fabric looked as though it were straining). The corset she wore only served to enhance the effect. It irked both Buffy and Faith to notice that Spike and Robin were momentarily thrown off by the demon's appearance. Or maybe it was more "turned on" than "thrown off". Either way, it didn't last long.

They had found her in the clock tower, just like the vamp had told them. She'd dropped down in front of them, silent as a cat, agile as one, too. And that was how they'd ended up there, examining eachother.

"well well well, it's demon-slut of the week," Buffy finally sneered, breaking the silence.

The demon laughed, and spoke, "Slayer," she said, in a low, slightly husky, seductive voice, with a heavy Transylvanian accent, "Or should I say, _Slayers._ There are many of you now... Hundreds, soon to be thousands-"

"Enough with the talk, I wanna kill somethin'" Faith said, not caring that she was interrupting, after all, this was a demon after all.

"Ah, you're Faith. The dark slayer," the demon looked back and forth from Faith to Buffy for a moment, before her gaze rested on the blonde slayer, "And only one so... _diminuitive_... as you could be Buffy,"

Buffy bristled at the remark about her height, and decided to throw an insult of her own, "You know it's really too bad you're not a vampire. You fit the stereotype perfectly. Skanky, pale, bad accent... the list goes on."

A look of pure fury crossed the demon's admittedly lovely features, before she returned to her normal aloof expression, "My dear girl, it is not wise to even hint that I am anything like the disgusting half-breeds that are vampires. They are a vile race, only good for the grunt work, and barely that."

"Oi!" Spike interrupted, "Vampire, standin' right 'ere!" Sure he helped kill his kind quite often, and enjoyed it, but he was still a vampire, and what the demon-wench had said was still an insult to him.

The demon laughed, "Ah yes... The Slayer's lapdog. Spike, right? While my dislike for your race usually overrides my appreciation for their good looks, I must say you are an exception to that rule." she laughed as Buffy frowned, and moved closer to the vamp, possesively. She finally looked at Robin, "And you're the son of a Slayer... Robin. Hmmm, I know all your names, yet you do not know mine. How rude of me... I am Merideth."

There was no talking after that, for Faith had become impatient, and fired her crossbow. The bolt embedded its self in Merideth's shoulder. She only looked mildly annoyed as she yanked it out, and murmured something about staining her dress, before rushing towards Faith with surprising speed, and grace. Faith just barely managed to avoid the knife that had seemingly appeared in the demon's hand. She rolled out of the way, as Robin made a swing at Merideth with the broadsword he had taken a liking too. Buffy and Spike joined in the fray. Spike using his fists, Buffy using a large double-sided axe. With Merideth's speed, and agility, it was obviously going to be a long tiring fight.

----------------------

Back at the mansion, training had been forsaken, as had patrolling, as tornado-like winds beat at the building, and whipped the trees to and fro. Rain pelted down with painful force, thunder crashed over head so loud as to rattle the very foundation of the mansion, and lightning flashed frequently, and bright enough to make it almost appear to be daylight. It left little dots of color flashing in front of the eyes of anyone who was daft enough to be looking out the windows. In fact, all the curtains had been drawn, so as to block out the flashing light. The entire household, save for Kennedy, who had yet to remove herself from the bar, was piled into the living room, waiting for the storm to stop.

Gisselle, Xander, Andrew, and Jory sat in a circle on the floor, arguing about comic books, and their movie counterparts, as well as old horror movies, and their modern-day remakes. None of them could seem to agree on anything. They eventually moved on to discussing video games, at which point they were joined by Brandie (a game junkie), and Kally (a game-junkie-to-be, thanks to Brandie).

Dawn, Anne, and Torrie sat discussing books, and arguing over which characters would be dead by the end of the Harry Potter series; Snape, Ron, or Harry himself.

Summer was with Giles, working on translating a book, correctly, while Cory bounced up and down next to Giles' chair, asking him all kinds of question, going from topic to topic, as if she had the attention span of a gnat, knowing it would annoy Giles to no end. Alicia, Rona, Michelle, and Vi were all scrunched up on the couch, fiddling with stakes, or knives, and arguing about the most satisfying way to kill a vamp. Decapitate it, burn it, or stake it.

Oz and Willow were off in another corner of the room on the second couch, just talking. About their days in highschool, and college, to what had been going on in their lives since. Neither one was aware that the other was moving closer every now and then, just by an inch or so at a time.

With an especially loud crack of thunder, and bright bolt of lightening, the power went out, leaving the entire group in darkness. A series of groans went throughout the room, as Giles got up to go and collect the candles. Within minutes, the room was illuminated by the soft glow of candle light. Kennedy made a brief appearance as she came to grab several of the unlit candles, before she retreated to the bar again, throwing a glare at Oz, as if it were his fault she wasn't joining the group. It was obvious, though, by that point that she was quite drunk.

This was going to be a long night.

---------------------

"How th' fuck are s'posed t' kill this bitch?!" Spike shouted down to Buffy, as he dodged a swing from Merideth.

"As Van Helsing once said," Buffy called back to him, "Vampires, warlocks, werewolves, they're all the same... Best when cooked well!"

"Then the question remains, B," said Faith, ducking out of the way of a flying knife, "How do we make sure she's well done?"

No reply from any of them, to that one. They were too busy trying to keep their heads firmly attatched to their necks to talk. Buffy had to admit, this demon was giving them more of a challenge than they'd had in a long while, and it was fun. Everything after the army of ubervamps had seemed... easy. Far too easy to kill. Vampires? Pfft, no challenge, not even for the newbies... It was actually fun to get a change of pace... To have a challenge. A fight that lasted longer than a minute. Granted, it was starting to get a little tiring... The bitch just wouldn't hold still long enough for therm to hit her. Scratch that, Faith had just put another crossbow bolt through her, and Spike had managed to clock her good across the face.

Score two for them. Buffy couldn't help the snicker she released when she thought that, and charged towards the now-disoriented demon with renewed vigor, swinging her axe in a strange semblance of grace. She was relishing in the fight, simply because she could. Because it was _fun._

She could tell Spike was thinking along the same lines, as he was actually laughing, as he kept Merideth's attention, allowing the ones with weapons to get the upper hand. He'd once said that weapons made him feel all manly, yet he had refused any when they had left for patrol. It was amusing, really. As Buffy fought, her eyes never left her vampire. There was a time when it was him that would have been recieving her blows, and him that was dealing the ones she took. At some point along the way, the blows would have lost their intensity, and one of them would have made the first move... A kiss, a touch, a look... Then the night would have gone from punches and kicks to rough, painful, exhilerating, wrong-yet-it-felt-so-right sex. And of course _that, _always ended in her getting up the moment she awakened, and scurrying off... Telling Spike he was nothing more than a thing. It had occurred to her, sometime in the last couple of months, that she hadn't wanted to believe that he could love her, or that she could love him, when he didn't have a soul, because Angel hadn't... Angel had wanted to kill her when he didn't have a soul. He hadn't been able to love her without his soul. Not like Spike had. Not like he did.

A kick in the stomach from Merideth brought her out of her thoughts about Spike, and she turned all her attention on the battle. Their demon friend was wearing down. And fast. Both Buffy, and Robin swung their weapons at the same time... Buffy's axe sliced through the flesh at Merideth's neck, and Robin's sword caught her across the middle of her back, slicing her spinal cord. The demon let out one long gutteral cry as she died, and exploded in a flash, and became nothing more than silver dust, floating about in the air, sparkling as shafts of moonlight hit it.

"Pfft, an' she said she wasn't like us vamps," Spike scoffed, lighting a cigarette, and taking a long drag off it.That was his way of celebrating a victory, having a smoke. "She dusted like one."

"I think this warrants a phone call to Giles," said Robin, "It would be nice to know what she was."

"Does it really matter?" Faith wondered, "I mean, we killed her, it's not like she's much of a threat anymore."

Her heart wasn't in the protest at calling Giles. She was looking at Robin with a look Buffy recognized. It was the same look she gave Spike, after a good sparring session... Fighting was good, but there were better things to do together, of the physical type. And Faith had always said a good fight got her ready for a good tumble in bed. Buffy had denied that she felt the same, back then. She no longer did. Especially when she was staring at Spike, with his hair tussled, a few loose curls hanging in his face, duster hanging slightly off his shoulder. She involuntarily licked her lips as he rolled his shoulders, readjusting the duster, and his muscles rippled under his impossibly tight navy t-shirt. _No... no naughty thoughts right now, Buffy... Need to get bak to the room, and call Giles... Yes, call Giles, tell him about the demon whore..._

_-------------------_

Back at the hotel room, Spike was calling the mansion, while Buffy looked for a change of clothes. The phone rang several times before someone answered.

"Slayer central," an all business child's voice said, as Giles' voice came from the background-("Corrine Angelica Summers, get back here with that phone!")-.

Spike laughed at the girl, and noted Giles' use of Buffy's surname on the child... Legally speaking, he and Buffy were the girl's adoptive parents. "Hey there, Tidbit," he replied, "Why don't you give grandpa Giles the phone." He knew Giles hated it when anyone called him that, and he also knew that Cory would give the phone to Giles, repeating the "grandpa" bit... And boy did she.

There was the sound of thudding feet, and the Cory's voice saying, "Daddy-Spike wants to talk to you, Grandpa Giles," she used her name for Spike in a normal tone (he still couldn't help the small amount of shock he felt when the girl called him that... She used it more and more lately, same as she used "mama-Buffy") and used the name for Giles in a sickly-sweet tone. Yep, that girl knew how to piss the old watcher off. There was a low growl from Giles, and the sound of the phone being roughly taken from Cory's hand, before Giles' voice said

"What?" in a snappish tone.

"Don't get your knickers in a bunch Rupes," Spike drawled, "Girl don't mean nothin' by it."

"Spike, I am in no mood to listen to your sarcasm... is there a point to this phone call other than to get that insufferable child to call me names she knows I hate? If there isn't, I'm hanging up."

Before Spike could come up with a reply, Buffy appeared, only to snatch the phone from Spike's grip, He offered no resistance. "Giles, it's me... We found the demon that vamp told us about. She's dead."

"She?"

"Yeah she... Some Transylvanian wanna-be wench, called herself 'Merideth'."

"Merideth?... Transylvanian-... Oh dear lord..."

Spike rolled his eyes... Was there ever a conversation with Giles that didn't have "oh dear lord" in it, somewhere? Using his enhanced hearing, he knew what was being said on both sides of the conversation. Buffy caught the look, and shook her head, knowing what he was thinking, as he had asked often. " 'Oh dear lord' what, Giles?" Buffy sighed, waiting for the news that the demon was going to resurrect.

"The demon you killed was one of a kind... Merideth 'Merry Death' Bloodfang... All of her species, save for her, went extinct so long ago, that no one even knows their names anymore," Buffy just _knew _she could hear him cleaning his glasses, and pinching the bridge of his nose, "How she managed to survive all these years is unknown, but it wasn't by being easy to kill."

"It wasn't easy," Spike offered, loud enough for Giles to hear, "Gave us a bloody run for our money, bitch did."

Giles chose to ignore the vampire, "Buffy are you sure she's dead?"

"Giles, I know the meaning of dead, and believe me she is."

"Right... Well, I'll be getting some more information on this... Call me back later... Actually, I'll call you... The power keeps going out here, so there's no telling if it'll be up if you try to call again."

"Kay... Say goodnight to everyone for me."

He obliged, and suddenly there was chorus of shouts, "Goodnight!"

------------------

Just as Giles hung up the phone, after saying goodnight to Buffy, the power went out again. Sighing, he realized it was good thing he had left the candles burning, even once the power had come back on, otherwise there would have been much rushing about to light the candles again. As it was, a few had gone out and had to be re-lit.

Willow was now closer to Oz than she had been in years. Mere inches from him... She was leaning closer and closer to him, and vice versa. She could count his eyelashes... literally. Could count the varying colors in his eyes. The different shades and hues... Her lips were nearly touching his now... They had agreed to take things slowly... agreed that she would smooth things out, and break things off with Kennedy first... But that didn't stop her from leaning forward just a little bit more, and pressing her lips carefully to his. The kiss was soft, slow, and sweet, at first... With each passing second, it became more and more urgent, more passionate...

-----------------

Buffy tried to get rid of the memories of her nightmare as Spike's cold hands roamed her body, tugged at her clothes, ran through her hair... That should have been enough to chase away the vision she was getting... Visions of blood... Bodies. The girls' bodies. All of them, ripped brutally apart. And the laughing. The voice that she couldn't quite place. She knew she knew it, but she couldn't place it...

-----------------

Outside the mansion, a lone figure moved through the rain. Oz and Willow were oblivious too it. They were too lost in eachother. All thoughts of going slowly were gone, as Oz's tongue traced circles on the roof of Willow's mouth. Every inch of the witch's body was burning with her need for him... with her need to be truly loved, as she had been with Tara. Their hands roamed freely over the other's body. It was a good thing that the others had long since left the living room, and headed to the library, to research a demon Buffy had killed.

They payed no heed to the sound of footsteps on the deck. The former lovers were far too lost in eachother to hear anything but the beating of their own hearts.

-----------------

She could almost make out the man's face... could almost recognize his voice. But Spike's hand slipping her jeans down her legs made it impossible... especially when part of her was screaming to ignore the nightmare flashbacks, and simply enjoy her lover... Closer still, she could almost see the face... Spike's mouth crashing down on her's tore the image away. She was losing the idea of who it'd been, as she tugged Spike's shirt over his head, and he returned the favor.

---------------

Willow could feel Oz's fingers slipping under her shirt. She shivered at the contact, but she didn't pull away. She wanted this as much as he did. Her fingers were stroking the soft hair on the nape of his neck, winding the short strands around her finger-tips. She was getting desperate for oxygen by then, but that seemed to be of little importance. All that was important were all the places where her body met with his.

The doorbell rang, yet she didn't get up to answer it.

"Willow!" Giles called from the library, "Get the door!"

Willow sighed, and separated herself from Oz, mimicking his groan of displeasure. With a silent promise that she would be back, Willow headed for the front door.

-----------------

Buffy was determined to see who it was that was haunting her dreams. The fact that Spike was kissing and nipping his way up her body seemed like a distant thing, as if it were the dream, and not the flashes she was getting... If only she could concentrate a bit harder... And then she saw his face clearly. Plain as day.

She suddenly shot up, and Spike looked at her as though she were crazy.

-------------------

Willow grumbled to herself as she headed for the front door. The bell chimed again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she said to no one in particular, speeding up a bit, and reaching for the doorknob.

------------------

"Buffy, love, what's wrong?" Spike asked, clearly displeased with the sudden interruption.

"I saw him, Spike..." Buffy replied, breathlessly, "I saw who it was in my nightmares... "

Spike immediately grew concerned, "Who was it, pet?"

"I-it... It was..."

----------------

Willow yanked open the door to reveal a familiar tall form. Pale skin, and as Spike said areodynamic hair. Dark, brooding eyes. They were all too familiar. He was leaning against the door frame, head down, rain dripping off his face. He wore a sinister, self-satisfied smirk.

The witch suddenly brightened, and her tone became cheerful, "Angel, hi!"

------------------

Ever since I decided who was going to be a pawn of The First, I've just been itching to write the final parts of this chapter... If it makes no sense to you, simply say so, and I'll explain... but I think it's pretty self-explanatory

Also, sorry if the Wil and Oz thing seemed to happen too fast, but that was the way I was determined to have the end of this chap play out...


	9. Planting Corpses

Here is chapter nine for ya'lls enjoyment...

CHAPTER NINE: Planting Corpses

Robin didn't think he'd driven faster in his entire life. After Buffy had told them who she'd been seeing in her nightmares, and Faith admitted that she'd been having nightmares similiar to Buffy's, only she had never seen who it was that was laughing, and speaking, they had tried to phone Giles several times... The phone just kept ringing, and ringing. No answer. At first Buffy thought maybe the power was out again. But the more she called, and got no answer, the more worried she became. When she had finally given up on the phone, they had packed up the few things they'd scattered throughout the day... Only it was too late. The sun was already up, unnoticed due to the curtains being drawn. As far away as their suburban had been, it would have been impossible to get Spike there without him bursting into flame... Hell, he wouldn't have been able to make it halfway down the stairs before becoming a pile of dust.

So, they had waited until nightfall, until the sun was just barely set enough to not do anything more than mildly singe the vampire, then they had left, all with the rising feeling of dread, as if something bad had, or was happening, and they were powerless to stop it.

But there was no reason to panic... Buffy assured herself. Was there? After all... There was no guarantee it was a slayer dream... one of the ones that came true, anyway. So what was the big deal?... It was the feeling in her gut that told her it would come true. The fact that both she and Faith'd had the same nightmare. Giles not answering the phone could be because of the power being out... Or being preoccupied with the girls. But those weren't the reasons. Her mind told her it couldn't be Angel... Not unless he'd lost his soul, and she knew that hadn't happened. She also knew that it likely _was _Angel... Or Angelus.

Then it hit her. The First. If the First had been able to control Spike, could it control Angel as well? It was possible... And there were far worse deeds in Angel's past than there had ever been in Spike's that the First could use to control him... But what if it really was Angelus? What if Angel really had lost that pesky soul again... Could she kill him? _To save my friends? My girls... My _family, _Yes, I could. I did it before, I could do it again, in heartbeat. _

She hoped it didn't come to that. She hoped desperately that it didn't come to that.

------------------

The mansion was dark, when they arrived. Rain still pelted down with bruising force, but none of the group noticed that when they got close enough to see the front door hanging off it's hinges. Buffy was the first to enter the mansion, despite Spike's call for her to wait. That she didn't know what was in there. She didn't want to know... Yet she did at the same time. She was terrified of what she was going to find. The first place she headed was for the library... That was where everyone would have been. In the dark, she didn't see the puddle until it was too late. She slipped on the slick wet marble, and went crashing to the floor. She shoved herself up and out of what she had initially assumed was water... But the thickness of it stopped her, and made her think about it for a moment.

The power came back on, just in time for Spike, Robin, and Faith to reach the door way of the library. Buffy nearly dropped in a dead faint at what the light suddenly revealed... Blood. Everywhere. On the walls. The Table. Splattered across the bookshelves. It had pooled into a lake in the floor, and Buffy was covered in it... She looked at her hands in a mixture of confusion, shock, and horror. Then she noticed the bodies... All draped in such a way that every last drop of their blood would drain... Poor little Brandie was draped across the table, her eyes wide, frozen in terror. Her neck had been ripped to shreds, and blood had matted in her hair, and still dripped slowly and steadily from the ends...

Rona was hung over the railing of the second level... Her wrists, and throat had been slashed... Blood had long since stopped falling from her.

Throughout the room there were other bodies as well. Kally, Torrie, Anne, Alicia... All bled dry...

"Shit..." was all Spike could say, in a breathless way. The smell of the blood was beginning to overpower his sensitive nose...

Both Faith and Robin stood in the doorway with the vamp, speechless, staring at the butchery before them. Buffy's eyes were clouding over with tears... She'd failed her girls, again... Like she'd failed with the Potentials... She suddenly dashed off, checking the house. She found Michelle in the kitchen, near the back door, hand outstretched for the door. Blood pooled around her. There was a fist-sized hole through her back... It went all the way through her body. Buffy gagged, and nearly vomited when she got close enough to notice that she could see the tile floor through the hole. She backed out of the kitchen, and continued her search. She knew the others were looking as well, but they weren't in the mad frenzy that she was. In her's and Spike's room, there was blood as well, though it was in the form of a message on the wall. "Payback's a bitch". The blood had been transported up via the bucket that lay near the door.

Then came the panic again, as she kept searching. She did vomit when she came to the bar... Kennedy was sprawled out on the pool table, bloodshot eyes open and staring at the ceiling... Seeing everything, seeing nothing... The slayer had been ripped to shreds by something with obviously nasty claws -proof of which came in the form of a six-inch raptor like claw, that lay wedged in Kennedy's ruined body. It looked as though something had been gnawing at her, particularly around her stomach... Buffy stumbled further into the room, and ran into the pool table, making the blood that it trapped slosh, and splash. The sound made Buffy's stomach lurch again. Why hadn't Kennedy been able to protect her-... Wait... There was the answer, right there, on the bar. Three emptied bottles of whiskey, and a fourth that was three quarters empty. The bratty slayer had been drunk out her mind... So much so she'd never had a chance to defend herself.

Buffy ran from the room, into the living room. The tv was on, and Dexter's Lab was playing. That had been Brandie and Anne's favorite show, she remembered, and more tears made their way to the surface... It had also been a favorite of Cory and Dawn's. It was then that it hit her, and hit her hard. Where were the others? Where were her sister, her watcher, her friends... Where were the rest of her girls? The thoughts of what could be happening to them suddenly plagued her mind, and sent her brain into overload. She was just starting to sink to the floor, when Spike caught her. She clung to him, breathing in the scent of smoke, and leather, and that special scent that was his as she sobbed. She couldn't hold back the tears. She hadn't known the girls for long, but she had gotten to know them during their time there, and they had become even more members of her little patch-work family. And now eight of them were dead... Eight of her family were dead. The realization only made her sob all the harder.

Spike didn't know what else to do to comfort his slayer, other than to stroke her hair, plant a kiss on her head, and hold her while she cried. Her small body shook, and he could feel her tears soaking his shirt, but he didn't mind. She could have cried until he was soaked to the bone, and he would have just held on to her.

Faith and Robin stood a ways away. Robin had his arm around Faith, whose chin was trembling, as she blinked rapidly, warding off tears. She wasn't one to cry in front of others... when she and Robin were alone, and she was in the safety of his arms, maybe then she'd cry, but not now.

It felt like an eternity passed, before Buffy was able to regain her composure. She sniffed, and wiped her eyes, and looked up at Spike, grateful to have him there. She was about to speak to him, when he suddenly turned his head in the direction of the library. Without a word, he strode out of the room. Confused, Buffy followed, still wiping her blood-shot eyes.

She found Spike peering behind and out-of-place bookshelf. She struggled to see around him, and caught sight of a headfull of long white-blonde hair. It took a while, but they finally convinced a clearly traumatized Gisselle to come out. Her hair was stained red halfway to the top, from the blood of her friends. Robin and Spike guided her to the living room, where she curled up on one of the chairs, in a tight ball, and trembled. She stared at the quartet before her, as if they weren't even there. No longer were her clear emerald eyes full of life, and happiness... No, now they bore a haunted, withered look. She hadn't made so much as a peep yet.

No one asked her what happened. No one said a word. They were all afraid that the slightest noise would break her. Her mind, clearly, had already been made dangerously fragile. After ten minutes in uncomfortable silence, Gisselle spoke, in that slight french accent of her's.

"All that blood... All girls' blood...i-it was like... like a 'burning crimson flood' he said... H-he made me watch...I didn't want to... but he made me...He told me if I said a word... he would kill me... " the girl looked to be on the verge of tears. "Told me to be quiet as a church mouse... So I was... And then he started killing them... " she started to rock back and forth slightly. Buffy started to put a hand on her shoulder, but the girl flinched, and shied away from her touch, "He killed Rona first... Took her from her room... Made sure she didn't scream... T-then he took Cory... scared her into inviting the other vampires in... a-and that demon... the one that ate Kennedy... " she was crying now, tears running down her face in a flood, "They killed Brandie, and Alicia...And Kally, and Torrie, and Anne... Michelle... Michelle tried to get away... he r-ripped her h-heart out... drank the blood... made me watch... he took the others... took them away... Took them all away... " she held her head in her hands, and rocked harder, "and all I did was watch... W-watch and hide... I couldn't... Couldn't save them, couldn't help them... "

They all knew the answer, but Faith asked anyway, "Who did this?"

"Angel," Gisselle replied, still rocking, sobbing and cradling her head in her hands, "Willow let him in.. .said his name was Angel... that he was going to wait for Buffy... But he didn't... he just waited for us... to let our guard down..." she pulled something out of her pocket, "T-told me to give you this..." she said to Buffy, handing her a blood-stained piece of paper.

With shaking hands, Buffy unfolded the paper. On it was a sketch of the others... The ones who'd been taken. They were in a basement, or a dungeon-looking place... Impossible to tell from the vagueness of the background. Angel had taken more time on the people, than their prison... At the bottom of the sketch was a scribbled note. "_Told you those girls of your's didn't know the pointy end of a stake._" No longer was Buffy shaking from shock, and grief. Anger, rage, and hate were all she was feeling now. She stood abruptly, "I'm going to kill him," she was striding towards the door, with no coherent thoughts in her head.

"Whoah, B, I don't think that's such a good idea..." Faith said, following her, "We need to think this through..." She looked back at Robin, "A little help?"

Spike beat Robin to it, "Buffy, love, I know you're angry... But chargin' off, with no clue as to wha's waitin' for you isn't goin' t' help 'em." He was blocking her path to the door.

"Out of the way, Spike," Buffy hissed, through clenched teeth, in a tone she hadn't used with him since she'd told him she wanted the dangerous Spike back, after Chloe'd hung herself.

"No," he replied, plainly, "You're not goin' out there half-cocked, pet."

She shoved him aside, "Yes I am." She knew he was right, but she didn't care right then.

He caught her by the arm, "You're goin' t' force me t' do somethin' I really don't wanna do, Kitten."

She tried to yank away, "Really? Then don't do it," she spat.

"Said I didn't wanna do it... Not that I wouldn't. You'll thank me later," that was all Buffy heard him say before his fist connected with her jaw, hard enough that she lost her grip on consciousness.

------------------

Dawn really had no clue where she was. She only knew that it was dark, dank, and smelled awful. Oh, and that she was chained to the wall by her ankle. Couldn't forget that. Giles was there with her, and Willow, and Oz, and Xander. Everyone. All chained in the same way she was. She noted with some interest that the chains were long enough, they could reach any part of the room, except the door. So Angel didn't care if they could roam about the room. He just didn't want them near the door. Which likely meant the door was unlocked. She took a closer look at all the faces in the room, and realized nine of their odd little family were missing. She hadn't seen what had happened to anyone. She'd only heard screams, before she was knocked out cold.

"Giles?" she said, nervously, "Where are the rest?" She was afraid of the answer.

"Dead," Xander told her, cutting off Giles' reply, which would have likely been sugar-coated.

"Xander!" Willow scolded, with a quick glance at the youngest members of their group, Cory, and Jory. Cory had only just stopped screaming for her mother, though whether she meant her real mother, or Buffy was unclear, and Jory still hadn't said a word to anyone.

"I'm not gonna lie to her, Wil," Xander replied, "I saw what was happening, when I was being dragged out. One of the vamps had hold of Gisselle, and Angel was killing Rona... There were other girls too... Brandie, Anne, Alicia..."

"Kennedy..." said Jory had finally spoken, she looked at Willow apologetically, "I- I ran to the bar, when I got away. I went to warn her... But there was this demon...It had her on the pool table... It was _eating _her..." she caught the look of horror on Willow's face, and she grimaced. She sniffled, before saying, "I'm sorry Willow... "

Willow bit back a sob, and let Oz embrace her, as she fought the tears. She may not have loved Kennedy, but she'd cared for her. Ken had helped her move on from Tara... had helped her to accept her death...

There were several more names added to the list of dead girls from the others, and Dawn found herself about ready to join Willow in crying. Those girls had been her friends. Vi was a complete wreck, sobbing, when she heard that Rona, Kennedy, _and _Michelle were gone. They had been her closest friends... She had been part of their group when they were still potentials... Giles was shaking his head, and muttering to himself. Dawn knew he was upset, and trying not to show it. Xander was trying to comfort Summer, who looked to be in a partial state of catatonia. She, unlike Jory, hadn't started speaking when the dead had been being named. Oz noticed Dawn watching her and said he'd caught a glimpse of what was going on too, and that Summer'd been watching. Not by choice, but she'd watched anyway, as her friends were slaughtered. Jory was holding on to Corrine for all she was worth, even though the raven-haired child was trying desperately to squirm out of her grip.

Dawn slid down the wall, to sit on the floor. She pulled her legs up to her chest, and rested her chin on her knees. She stared off into space, for a long while, before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up in time to see Andrew sitting next to her.

"You alright?" he asked. He sounded like she imagined a terrified rabbit might sound, if one could talk.

"I should ask you that," she replied, blandly. She felt if she showed any emotion, the grief at the loss of her friends would hit her hard, and she would break down. She had to remain strong, like her sister would have.

"I-I'll be fine... I think...Depends on what Angel wants with us..."

------------------

The first things Buffy heard were muttering, and someone humming the Pink Panther theme. Another someone was drumming the beat, on a table, she'd guess. Whoever it was, they were making a good duet, after all, the Pink Panther theme was a difficult one to replicate alone... She opened her eyes, and found herself looking at the living room ceiling. She turned her head, and found that she was lying on the couch, and that Spike and Faith were the Pink Panther duo, with Spike doing the humming, and Faith, the drumming. Robin was sitting with Gisselle, talking softly too her. She looked less like a frightened rabbit, than she had before.

The sun was just then rising. She could see the sky turning pink through the part in the curtains. She sat up, noting that her jaw was still throbbing. _At least I know he hasn't gone soft..._she thought with a mental shrug.

"You're awake," said Robin, noticing her, "Before you kill Spike, you should know, we got news from Angel."

"Said he wanted to meet us in the sewers, at sundown," said Faith, not stopping her drumming, "Reckon it's a trap."

"Don't reckon," Spike chimed in, "Know. Sorry 'bout hittin' you, love, but you didn't leave me with much of a choice."

Buffy suddenly found the floor very interesting. She knew he was right, damn him. "So what are we going to do?"

"Get there before he does?" Robin suggested, "I don't think he'd be there already."

"And for good reason," Spike scoffed, as if it were painfully obvious why.

Faith looked at him quizzically, and the vamp sighed, "Hello, vampire! You lot may forget it now an' then. Th' bloody Poof's not going t' find many places aroun' 'ere with sewer access, so he's either holed up there already, or he's waitin' for sunset, which, I think, is what we're goin' t' be doin'... Sun's already too high for me, 'less you plan on leavin' me behin'." He leaned back in his chair, as if he were expecting that to be the answer. He still didn't quite feel like part of the real gang.

Buffy got up from the couch, and moved to sit on his lap, "We're not leaving you. We- _I, _need you," She kissed him, and buried her face in his shoulder, "I can't face this without you. Not when we might lose even more people..."

Faith muttered something about things being too mushy, and got to her feet, "I'll be outside... Digging..." At the word digging, Gisselle choked, and hid her face in the couch. Robin patted her shoulder, and mumbled something too her, and she seemed to calm down a bit. The former principal got up, and said he would join Faith.

The couple left the room, and eventually, so did Gisselle. She headed up to her room, still sniffling. Buffy herself was getting teary-eyed again, but she fought the tears down as she felt Spike put his arms around her. "We'll get them back, pet... Watcher, Red, the Whelp, Nibblet, the Tidbit, all of them..."

Buffy clenched a handful of his t-shirt, "I hope you're right, I really do." She sat up straight, and brushed her lips lightly over his, "You always seem to be my pillar of strength," another feather light kiss, which he returned, "I love you..."

"I love you, too, pet."

They stayed that way for a few moments, before Buffy got to her feet, "I'm going to help Faith and Robin... Could you... Could you get the..." she didn't want to say it... didn't want to say that one little word, "the bodies..." There, she'd said it, and it felt as bad as she'd thought it would. Worse, even.

The others wouldn't like that they hadn't been there for the burials, but Buffy couldn't leave the girls just lying around like that. She just couldn't. When Spike nodded, she turned and headed for the door. She noted where Robin and Faith had started digging. In a large clear area, surrounded by a small iron fence. It had once been meant for a garden, Buffy was sure, but none of the residents were gardeners, so it wasn't going to be used. She went to the shed, around the back of the mansion, and grabbed a shovel. They had eight graves to dig. _Planting corpses._ Buffy thought morbidly, as she joined Faith and Robin in the 'garden'. _We're doing a different kind of gardening. Instead of planting seeds, we're planting corpses._

_-------------_

Oh and, just so's ya know... Kennedy was the only of those eight that I KNEW I was gonna kill off at some point... the others... well, I went ahead and left my favorites alive

Now hit the review button... ya know ya want too :p


	10. Sewer Muck

Well, since I got so many reviews on the last chapter, I figured I'd post this one early.

Hope you enjoy

CHAPTER TEN: Sewer Muck

Angelus was listening to his captives, taking care not to be seen. He wasn't quite ready to face the shouting, and the fury that they would no doubt bombard him with. He could be patient, but the entity within him wasn't, and couldn't be, and no doubt _its_ temper would only fuel his own. And it just wouldn't do if any of the humans he had were to be dead before Buffy and her pals arrived. After all, he'd gone through the trouble of watching her, seeing which of her new brats she was closest too, or who her friends were closest too. He had actually wanted to keep the one Slayer... Kennedy was her name, alive, for the Witch... But he'd caught the scent of the werewolf on her, and hardly any of the slayer's, so he'd let one of his demons eat to its heart's content, and taken the wolf instead.

It was going to bring him plenty of delight, as well, to have Buffy and his grandchilde watching the death of the little snotnosed brat who'd given him plenty of trouble; the swollen flesh between his thumb and forefinger, complete with a deep bite mark. The little runt had bitten all the way through the skin. It had been a struggle not to kill her right then. Her and the red-head... Jory was her name. For a stick of a human, she was strong. She'd managed to get away from him once, like Michelle had. Only he'd let her live. He'd put a hole through Michelle. They were talking again, discussing ways to get out. _Try all you like, _Angelus thought, _I took precautions to make sure even a slayer couldn't get out of those chains. _ The sounds of clanking chains was proof that none of them could read minds. They were obviously yanking on the things that held them prisoner.

-----------------

The sun was low enough, that Spike could join his... he hesitated to think friends, but that was as close as he could come to describing them, other than Buffy, of course. He was carrying Kennedy's ruined corpse to her grave. She was the last one. The other seven were already buried. Buffy said she was going to have headstones made for them, once all this was over, so they'd have proper graves. Spike hadn't been able to help the sarcastic thought that they'd have to patrol in their own yard now, with a cemetery being started there... He hadn't said it aloud, of course. He had some tact. But that didn't stop it from being true... He had the feeling that this garden was going to become the official Slayer burial ground. Or, more likely, official Slayer, Watcher, and friends-of-slayer burial ground.

He dropped Kennedy's body into the empty grave, not quite as gently as he had the others. He'd never liked Kennedy... Bint had always been far too bossy for his tastes. Wasn't good for Red. He noted the look of distaste he got from Gisselle at his rough treatment of the slayer's body. She had finally worked up the courage to come out of her room, and watch as her friend's were buried. Personally, Spike had to admire that. Had Buffy's funeral been at night, he probably still wouldn't have been able to watch. Not that it would have done much to make him feel better or worse. He'd still spent days drunk out of his bleedin' mind, and not to mention had sobbed his heart out, both in his crypt, and at her grave.

But Buffy had come back... These eight slayers weren't going to come back. Gisselle's friends weren't going to dig their way out of their graves, half-crazy, frightened, and delusional, brought back by a witch who couldn't accept that they could be happy, where ever they were. The realization brought on a wave of sympathy for the girl. And also fear. Fear that Angelus, or the First, or whoever it was, had already killed the others. Had already killed Dawn, and Willow, and Corrine... Hell, he was almost worried about Giles, and Xander, too. Almost, though he wouldn't admit it. Not in a million years. If he lived that long, anyway. It was possible that he would end up dust that night. Sure, he didn't _want _to live for a million years, and he wouldn't, if Red could pull of what she said she could, but he didn't want to die right then.

Gisselle muttered something that sounded like a prayer as the four adults began to bury Kennedy. After a moment, she joined them.

By the time the grave was completed, it was fully dark. Time to go find Angelus, and stomp him into the dirt. Providing of course, Buffy wasn't suddenly stricken with guilt at killing her ex, and stopped them... But with as angry as she was, that didn't seem likely.

After much debate- or rather, arguing- it was decided that Gisselle would come along with them. After all, they'd need all the help they could get, until they had found the others, and freed them.

--------------

"God, I thought I'd left walks in the sewer behind when Sunnydale went under," Faith groaned, looking green.

"No complaining," Buffy scolded, "I've been doing things like this a lot longer than you."

"And I don't see how you did it, B," the dark-haired slayer replied, hand over her nose.

"Could you bints be any louder?" Spike muttered irrittably, "I thought we were tryin' t' be bloody stealth-like."

"Not much point," Robin reminded him, "He knows we're coming."

"So we're walking into a trap?" Gisselle wondered, aloud, voice barely audible. "We're all gonna die, aren't we?"

"See, now you've scared th' chit," Spike growled, though it was more because he wanted to say something other than that he knew the principal was right. He wondered, also, if Gisselle wasn't right. They could very well have been walking into a trap, and could likely wind up dead, and in his case, dust. _I'll take the bloody Poof with me, though. _The vampire assured himself. In all honesty, he was more worried about Buffy than himself. She was angry and grieving, which could either make her sloppy, or allow her to give peaches a run for his money. He also knew that she'd never forgive anyone who tried to help her with Angelus. That was just how Buffy worked. Whoever pissed her off, _she _got to kill. Maybe that was why he'd lived as long as he had, because Buffy had wanted to be the one to kill him. _We all see how well that one worked out. _

Up ahead, there was the sound of rattling chains, and several familiar voices. The others probably didn't hear it yet.

-----------------

Dawn glared at the vampire in front of her. She had hated him with a passion _before_ he'd killed a bunch of her friends... Now she completely and utterly despised him. He had been going on about something or other to do with Buffy, and foiling plans... Which left Dawn clueless. As far as she knew, Buffy hadn't messed with any of Angel's plans lately. Then it clicked. He'd said something about the hellmouth, and the ubervamps.

"You're not Angel," she said quietly, "You're the First, controlling him."

"Actually, I'm Angelus... Brought out by the First," he moved away from her, and walked around the room, if it could be called that, "I'm _free _again..." He threw a glare at Willow, "Maybe this time a certain witch can refrain from returning me to my pitiful human-like self."

"You realize that Buffy's going to kick your ass, right?" Xander commented dryly, "She's done it several times before, and as much as I don't like him, she's got Spike to help this time."

Angelus laughed, "Spike? He couldn't kill me if I layed flat on my back, and _let _him stake me... And Buffy? She cracks under pressure."

"You under-estimate her," Giles said, softly, "You always have."

"I agree with Xander," said Vi, from her corner, "Buffy and the others are going to kick your ass." She was exceptionally pissed, considering she rarely swore.

"I'll enjoy watching you turn to dust," Dawn mumbled, getting the vampire's attention.

"Dawnie, Dawnie, Dawnie," he said, as if talking to a small child, "The only vampire you'll see turn to dust is Spike. After that, I'll kill you," he reached out to stroke her cheek. Dawn jerked away.

"Don't you fucking touch me!" she shrieked at him, her cry echoing through the room.

"Hmmm, certainly not proper language for a young lady," Angelus chided.

"You should hear _me_, when _I _get angry, shit-head," Jory grumbled.

-------------------

"Don't you fucking touch me!"

Buffy recognized her sister's voice. The others heard it too, for they all stopped dead in their tracks. _If he hurts her... _Buffy thought, shaking with rage, _I'll make sure he regrets it... I'll send him to a hell even Angelus couldn't imagine.. _Spike was thinking along the same lines. No one hurt his Little Bit, and didn't suffer for it. Same went for if the Tidbit was hurt.

It was only minutes later, that they found the room. There they all were. Giles, Willow, Dawn, Xander, Oz, Summer, Corrine, Jory, Vi, Andrew... all of them. Andrew, upon seeing Buffy, Spike, Robin, Faith. and Gisselle, began to bounce up and down excitedly. Had it not been for Angel, standing in the center of the chamber, Buffy might have shook her head, at his sillyness. But, considering that Angel was standing there, she could only give death glares.

"You're not Angel," she finally said, "You're not even Angelus... you're The First, using him as a puppet, like you did with Spike." She noticed Spike flinch out of the corner of her eye. He hated that being brought up.

"As I just told your dear little sister, I've been relieved of the feelings that pesky soul causes by the First."

"So you're a puppet," Gisselle chimed in, not speaking with her usual whispery tone.

Angelus only smirked, and whistled. Simultaneously the chains on the captives' ankles fell away, and several low growls came from behind Buffy and the others. Buffy half turned to see several lizard-like demons, one of which was missing a claw. Her mind flashed back to the claw she'd found on Kennedy. _These fuckers are so dead_ She thought, her hands balling into fists. She ignored the demons, and headed straight for Angelus/First. As she strode towards Angelus, she called to Giles. "Giles! Get Dawn and Cory out of here, now!" Giles nodded, and Buffy turned her attention on her adversary, "So, if I kill this shell, will you really die this time, or will you come back with another vendetta?"

Angelus only laughed, and struck her. The blow caught her off guard, but she managed to block the next, which was aimed at her ribs. She noted, at the corner of her eye, that the others were fighting off the demons, as well as several vampires who had joined the fray. The vampires would be easy work. The demons would be the trouble. Another blocked blow from Angelus. Buffy managed to strike him. A roundhouse kick right to the jaw sent him reeling. Not for long, though. _Boy this bring back memories, _She thought, as his foot connected with her stomach. She was remembering their fight, when she'd killed him, and thrown him into hell. She hadn't hesitated to kill him then, and she'd known that he had a soul when she did it... But now? It seemed as if he still had his soul, but the First had done something to surpress it, and take comeplete control of him, something it hadn't managed with Spike.

A scream caught her attention, and made her glance away from her enemy for the briefest moment. Dawn, Giles and Cory were still there, cornered by one of the lizards. Andrew was, surprisingly, beating on the demon's thick hide with his fists, shouting at it to leave his friends alone. She saw Angelus' fist coming at her in the nick of time, and managed to block the blow, but just barely. She couldn't go to her friends' aid... Not until Angelus was either dead, or at least down for the count.

The next thing she knew, she was being slammed against the wall. It wasn't Angelus that had done it, for her was standing back, smirking. No, one of the damn lizards had hit her with its tail, and knocked her to the side. As she came in contact with the wall, she felt something crack, and then a sharp pain in her ribcage. _Shit. Broken ribs. _ She hit the floor a moment later, and hesitated before shoving herself to her feet. She could feel the bones grating together. Gritting her teeth, she continued her fight with "tall dark and forehead". She didn't know how she was going to fare against him now, but if she went down, at least she was going to tenderize him, for the next person who took him on.

Unfortunately, he noticed her injury. The blinding pain she felt when his foot connected with her ribs was enough to drive her to her knees. Hearing Angelus laugh was enough to get her back up, however. She wasn't going to give him the pleasure of seeing her down like that. No chance in hell.

--------------------

The last of the vampires, and demons were dead, thank god. Xander was doubled over, catching his breath. All but one of the vampires was dust. Angelus. Buffy was still fighting him, and it looked as though she were losing. She'd been knocked to the ground multiple times by now, and she was getting slower and slower, each time she drug herself back to her feet. Xander was itching to go an help her, but he doubted he would be of much use. After all, he was hurt, tired, and if Angelus could beat Buffy down like that, he'd make short work of a one-eyed construction worker. None of the slayers were jumping in to help either. But then, that was likely because Buffy would have killed the first one who even tried.

-------------------

Spike was itching for something else to kill. This had been a fun fight at least... Or it had been until he'd actually turned to watch Buffy's fight with Angelus. Then it was no longer fun. She was losing. He started to step forward, to help, when she shouted at him to stop. She wanted no help, from him, or anyone else. Grumbling to himself about stupid bints, and their stubbornness, he backed off to watch. If it looked as though Buffy would most assuredly lose, he would step in, regardless if she liked it or not. A sudden force colliding with his leg distracted him from the fight. He looked down to see a familiar head of black hair. Cory's face was buried against his leg, and she was holding on to him for all she was worth.

He picked the girl up, and noted that she was trembling. She'd seen vampires before, but never demons, and she'd never been in the middle of a fight. The child clung to him as if for dear life, and, she was crying. Spike had never been one for comforting distraught children, considering that he was usually the cause of the terror, but he shrugged off the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what the hell he was doing, and let her hold on to him, as he watched the fight. It was even again. Neither Buffy nor Angelus was winning or losing, But that wasn't exactly a good thing. It meant that it could still swing in Angelus' favor.

The others, Spike could tell, were just as annoyed at not being able to help as he was... And he couldn't blame them. Damn Buffy and her "I have to do this myself" attitude.

There... There was what he'd been afraid of. Angelus had the upper hand. Again. Were it not for the small slayer in his arms, he might have said "fuck it" and helped her anyway, whether or not she wanted it. Just in case, he pried Cory off of him, and handed her to Dawn, whom was watching her sister, obviously worried.

Just as he handed the child over, there was a thud from the direction of the ongoing battle, and a yelp of pain from Buffy. Spike turned to see her hit the wall again. "Buffy!"

She dropped to the floor. Spike was already heading for her. "Buffy!?"

This time, she didn't pick herself off the floor and start the fight again... Not this time. This time she remained in a limp heap on the damp floor...

-------------------

Spike ignored anything and anyone except for the limp form of the woman he loved in his arms. Angelus was backing away, chuckling. Spike payed no attention to him. His grandsire wasn't important. Nor were the sounds of approaching feet, as several of the other Slayers, led by Faith, advanced on Angelus. The only important thing was Buffy. He could hear her heart beating, but only faintly, and it wasn't a regular beat. Her breathing- what little she did, anyway- was labored. He pushed her hair away from her face, kissed her forehead gently, and layed her back down on the floor. He was going to help beat Angelus into a bloody pulp.

But, Angelus had other plans. He'd already knocked the girls who'd come after him senseless, and was ready to make an escape. Spike, however, was faster than the girls had been. He had the older vampire pinned against the wall in two seconds, flat.

"Where th' bloody hell d'you think you're goin'. Peaches?" he hissed, tightening his grip around his grandsire's throat.

"Well," Angelus replied, having a little trouble speaking, "I was leaving... Give Buffy a little time to get her strength back... A fight's no fun if your enemy's less than top notch... Now be a good little lapdog, and get out of my way, before I change my mind and kill her now."

Spike considered this for a moment, and didn't doubt that Angelus would do it. But he wasn't going to give up. "Girls," he growled, "Hope you're good an' ready for a fight."

With that, he put all he had into simply beating the life out of the other vampire. After a few moments, Angelus knocked him aside, and Faith took over, followed by Vi, and Summer, then Gisselle and Jory. They kept on that way, tag-teaming, for a while, and it seemed Angelus was weakening. They still couldn't stake him, but weakening him was a start.

Spike was just about ready to give staking him another try when Angelus was suddenly yanked away. Looking to see who the culprit was, he barely held in a cheer. Buffy had Angelus pinned against the wall, a stake poised over his heart. She was shaking, and it was clear she was still weak, yet she still had the strength to pin her former lover.

"Tell me, Angelus... If I kill you, does the First die with you, or does it go on to bother me again one day?" the Slayer hissed.

"You can't kill me..." It was the First talking now, "But kill Angel, and I'll leave you in peace... for now."

"And if I don't?"

"well, then, I'll just keep coming back. over and over, and let you constantly come home to dead friends."

"Not if I have any say in it," Buffy spat, "And considering who has the stake, I'd say I do... Giles!" she called, without looking away from the vampire in front of her, "If I kill him, does the First go with him?"

"Um... w-well, you see,... it's not really that simple..."

"Giles!" Faith and Spike interrupted together.

"Y-yes and no... It would be banished to another dimension if the body it possesses is destroyed..."

The vampire gave to watcher a look that could have killed, and looked back at Buffy, eyes widening in sudden fear, as she drew the stake away from his chest, readying herself to kill him. "Sorry Angel..." she whispered, and brought the stake forward again, closing her eyes, and waiting for the stake to hit flesh...

-----------------

So, does she kill him or not? Review, and you might find out sooner :p


	11. Recovery

Well, I got such a response for the last chapter, I gave in to temptation and decided I'd go ahead and post this... This is the final chapter, and I hope it's not too disappointing. Endings are the hardest part of a story to write, for me, anyway.

Enjoy.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Recovery/Epilogue

Buffy opened her eyes, only to squeeze them shut again... The bright florescent lights of the hospital were not the greatest thing to wake up to. Groaning, she rolled over, before she risked opening her eyes again. Blinking rapidly to rid herself of the color spots that danced before her eyeballs, she nearly missed the figure looming over her.

Angel. For fleeting moment her mind panicked.

"So you're awake?" he asked, sitting in the chair next to the bed.

"Yeah," Buffy replied, suddenly remembering she had no reason to be afraid. "Lucky me... Where's everyone else?"

"Giles took the girls to get something to eat, Spike went out for a smoke, and everyone else just went to get a cup of coffee... " there was something in his voice that said they'd left to avoid him, "You gave us all a scare, you know."

"I could say the same to you," she replied.

Back in the sewers, when she'd been about to stake him, he'd suddenly grabbed her arm to stop her... Of course, Buffy could have continued anyway, as his grip had been weak... But he'd suddenly gone limp. The sudden dead weight had made Buffy drop her captive. Angel had begun convulsing, and kept doing so for a few seconds, before finally remaining still... There hadn't been any evidence to suggest it, but Buffy had been sure that the First had left Angel's body, and allowed his soul to take over once again... Apparently the prospect of being banished to another dimension wasn't its idea of fun.

When Angel had finally regained consciousness, Buffy lost her grip on it, and had proceeded to pass out again... This time she never hit the floor, as her 'knight in shinning leather' had caught her, while throwing glares towards Angel, as if it were his fault that Buffy was out cold again.

Now, several hours later, Angel was still Angel, and Buffy was feeling as though she'd been dragged through hell and back, over thornbushes, all while being beaten with a sledge hammer. When she was about to say as much, her friends all crowded into the room, followed by a female doctor. The woman didn't look at all pleased with the number of people, but she said nothing about it, but went on to say her name was Allyce Barnes, and to tell Buffy what the damage was.

Four broken ribs, a hairline fracture in her arm, internal bleeding, a concussion, and massive external bruising.

It wasn't as bad as Buffy had expected, but it was enough that the doctor said she was going to be staying for a couple of days. Buffy wasn't at all keen on this idea, and made her protests heard, arguing that one night was plenty for her to rest, and then go home and continue to rest. She still wasn't over her fear of hospitals. Giles, Xander, Willow, and Spike knew why she was afraid in the first place.

After a good half hour of arguing with the doctor, and threatening to walk out on her own, with or without the aid of her friends, the woman finally made her a deal. Stay two nights, then she could go home. Grumbling, Buffy accepted, still not happy with this arrangement.

"Don't worry Buffy," said Willow, in an attempt to cheer her up, "One of us'll be here with you at all times... The rest of us should probably go home, and... and clean up..." Her eyes involuntarily shifted towards Angel, who looked down, ashamed... He knew what she meant. He hadn't had to be filled in on what he'd done. He remembered it all, and every time he thought about it, he began to feel sick.

The fact that the Scooby gang, and the new Slayers kept giving him hateful looks only made it worse, but he wasn't going to say anything about it. He deserved the looks. Hell, he deserved worse... Death didn't seem to quite cover the debt, either... Maybe an eternity in hell would suffice... No, it wouldn't. No amount of suffering on his part would make up for the eight girls he'd killed...

The eight friends he'd stolen from these people. Nor would it heal the damage done to the mousy girl, Gisselle, or make Summer forget what she'd seen, or Jory, or Corrine. Nothing would ever be enough to make up for what he'd done. But that didn't mean he couldn't try.

His cell phone ringing brought him out of his thoughts, and he answered, as the others talked.

"You alright?" Dawn asked Buffy, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Buffy shrugged, "I'll be better once I'm out of here," she replied, "You know how much I hate hospitals..."

Dawn nodded, "Yeah, I do... " she waited a moment, before asking, "What... What did you do with the... The bodies?" The got the attention of everyone else, who hadn't been present for the burial.

"We buried them..." said Buffy, "We would have waited for you guys...But..." She let herself trail off.

"We didn't want t' leave 'em lying in the house, Nibblet," Spike finished.

"Didn't seem right, y'know?" Faith added. Dawn nodded, as did everyone else.

"We marked the graves," Robin said, quietly, "So you know who's who..."

The sound of Angel's phone snapping shut broke off the conversation... "That, um, that was Cordy," said the vamp, "She said she's been trying to reach me for days...I... I think it'd probably be best if I went back to LA... let her know I'm okay, and what happened..."

There was no protest from the group, none. None of them were too unhappy to see him go... Even Buffy felt a bit relieved, when he left. She knew the First was no longer in control of him... but she still couldn't look at him without the memories of what the mansion had been like when they'd arrived, or without imagining what it was going to be like for everyone else when they went home to find the blood still all over the place, and to see the freshly dug graves, with temporary wooden markers on them... It wasn't a pleasant thought.

-------------------

The next several weeks were spent mostly in an uncomfortable silence... No one wanted to say anything, because none of them, knew _what _to say. To many of the girls, it was quite uncomfortable, being in the house where their friends had been murdered, and all of them used any excuse to get out. Dawn busied herself helping Andrew move, and set up his new apartment, and often spent all day away from the mansion. The others put their time into helping Robin and Faith, or training outside.

Willow remained silent for the most part, rarely talking to anyone. Only Oz seemed to be able to coax her out of her shell. She was feeling guilty about Kennedy. She had said as much to Oz one night... That she felt if she hadn't snapped at Kennedy, or had just ended things quickly, then the slayer might not have ended up dead. She was dead because she'd been to drunk to know what was happening, and she'd been drinking because of Willow. To Willow, that translated as her fault, and no one was convincing her otherwise. Yet.

She used up her time, when she wasn't with Oz, on researching Spike's request. She was pretty sure she could do it, it was just a matter of the right components, and getting every one else out of the mansion for a couple of hours.

Gisselle, Summer, Jory, Vi, and Cory all suffered constantly from nightmares. It had become a normal thing to wake in the middle of the night to hear one or more of them screaming. If Dawn had nightmares, she kept them to herself, like Buffy did, and like everyone else did. Eventually, Buffy knew, the new slayers would learn how to stop screams... And eventually, how to stop the nightmares. You had to, when your job dealt with all sorts of monsters.

Headstones had been put up, for the eight girls they'd lost, by then, and while they still couldn't give them a proper funeral, that was enough. As long as there was a headstone there, there was no chance that the girls would ever be forgotten.

There were going to be new girls arriving soon, along with several of their family members. Giles and Xander had gone out in search of more slayers, as well as recruits for the Watcher's Council, that Giles was so eager to rebuild... but it was going to be done his way. Xander was planning on adding more buildings on the grounds, to avoid over-crowing the house, once they returned. Buffy had found the rough drafts he'd drawn up. He wanted to build a, well, dorm, for lack of a better word, for the new arrivals, and had plans on remodelling (finally) some of the old storage rooms, to use as training rooms, as the ground floor of the library wasn't going to be big enough for long.

Buffy, according to Spike, was one of the worst patients ever. After she'd been released from the hospital with the strict instructions that she was to rest, and nothing more, she'd wanted to go out patrolling. Spike mentioned at one point that he would tie her down if she didn't stay put, and finally Buffy gave in, and stopped trying to escape.  
Of course, she didn't have to stay resting as long as the doctor had ordered. Slayer healing, after all. One of the better perks of the job. Within a couple of days her bruises were almost non-existant, and within a couple of weeks her broken and fractured bones were healed perfectly. It had baffled the poor doctor, who'd treated her.

With school starting up again, she was going to have to get all the girls enrolled. The new group was just going to be transferred from their old schools, to save trouble, and questions.

Angel had come by once, after his abrupt departure in the hospital, in order to see how everyone was doing. Both Gisselle, and Cory had much the same reaction they'd had in the hospital. They were both terrified of him. Gisselle had hidden in her room, until he left, and Cory had alternated between sticking to Buffy like glue, and sticking to Spike like glue... Eventually, she'd headed off to find Willow and Oz. The others kept their distance as well. After that, Angel kept any contact to phone calls, and rarely that.

All in all it was a long recovery process. Physical, for some, emotionally for all.

----------------

Months Later

Buffy sat curled in an armchair, enjoying the peace and quiet that came from a lack of construction outside. For months, Xander had been building non stop. The "dorm" for the new slayers was mostly complete, it only had to be furnished, now he was working on a proper training room, and it was rare that the sounds of sawing and banging stopped, so Buffy was going to enjoy it while she could. Being able to be still was a rarity as well.

The reason being, the girls Giles and Xander had found after she'd been released from the hospital, Crys, Nancy, April, Tandy, and twins Joline and Josephine (Jolie and Josie), were far too energetic for their own good.

Giles was working on rebuilding the Watchers' council as well. Already he had a few recruits, Dawn being one of them, though she had a long way to go before she was an actual watcher. All of the others were family or friends to the new slayers. Buffy's favorite of the watchers was Crys' older brother, Eason. She had noticed that he was also Dawn's favorite of the new arrivals...

Faith and Robin had been living together peacefully, at least, and Faith had given up her constant protests that she was sticking around for good sex alone. Andrew was happy living on his own, as well. He and Dawn had gone out once, much to Spike's dismay, though to his immense relief it was only once. Now Andrew was dating Tandy. They seemed perfect for one another, being that they could both go on for hours about comics, and movies.

Willow and Oz had their own place, too, as both of them had gotten tired of having no time alone, save for in their room. Xander and Giles had both stayed, though Giles was gone alot, always on the hunt for more slayers. Vi had moved out of the country, had gone to look after the hellmouth in Cleveland. Gisselle had gone with her.

After that, they'd decided it was best that the slayers operate in at least teams of two, on each hellmouth, or towns with high levels of supernatural activity. But that was for later, once they had more trained. As it was, the only newbie who still lived in the mansion who could be considered fully trained was Summer, and she was firmly refusing to leave. She said she was happy just where she was. Jory, like Summer, still lived in the main house, not in the dorms. Jory was to young yet to be a full fledged slayer, and as much as she claimed she could take care of herself, she did no patrolling on her own. That had to wait until she was fifteen at least.

There was a new group of girls arriving later that evening, with Giles. Buffy knew that most would be fifteen or older. They'd come up with a system for recruiting the new slayers. Any girls fifteen and older were told directly what they were, and given the option to either be trained, or to just go about their lives as normal (after all, it wasn't as if there was any shortage of slayers now). Under fifteen, their parents were told, (or in the case of the few who hadn't witnessed a vampire or demon attack on their daughters, convinced), and given the choice to let their daughters be trained then, or to wait until they were older.

Most chose to wait, a few chose to not accept at all. When Buffy'd spoken to Giles on the phone he claimed that they had one ten-year-old with them, and one that was fourteen. So that made two sets of brave parents so far (or, incredibly stupid, Buffy hadn't made up her mind which). This time there were six girls coming to the mansion. She hadn't asked their names yet. She'd find out when they arrived. She made a point to get to know each girl.

The silence, and the chance to relax, made Buffy realize just how worn out she was, and she began to drift off. She was almost asleep when-

"Joooooorrrrryyyyyy!" The blissful silence was broken by her adoptive daughter's voice.

Twenty seconds of peace, and Buffy thought she might actually get to sleep, then, "Joooorrrryyyy!"

Forty-five seconds this time, and Buffy'd started to close here eyes, "Jooooorrrryyyy!"

A few seconds later came Jory's frustrated cry of "Buffy!"

"Jooooorrrrryyyyy!"

"Buffy!"

That kept going for several minutes, before Buffy sighed, and gave up on a nap, and looked towards the couch. Spike was sound asleep, a book of Shakespeare plays lay open on his chest, and a ray of sunlight danced across his face. It was still an odd sight, to see him in sunlight. Willow had worked a spell for him, that should have turned him human, but, something had gone wrong (according to Giles, it was a mispronunciation of a word) and he hadn't quite returned to being human. He still had his vamp strength, and taste for blood, and he couldn't spend all day in the sun, without getting extreme sunburn (extreme being that he looked as if he'd spent a week in direct sun with no protection, luckily he still healed fast), but he was fine for several hours, at least, and he was no longer _dead_.

It had amazed Buffy that she could feel his heartbeat, and that his skin was no longer cold. He could also age, albeit a bit slower than a normal human. Along with the being alive came the possibility for he and Buffy to have children (which made Buffy think of something she'd said to Angel about not seeing fat grandchildren anywhere in the future with him). But as the shouts from the second floor continued, she knew that the odds of that happening were slim. Corrine was enough of a handful, and always training the girls kept both Buffy and Spike busy enough, that had Cory not had other people to keep her company, she might have been lonely.

"Spike!" Buffy called, to wake her sorta-vamp lover.

"Wha'?" he asked not opening his eyes. She didn't need to answer, for right then, another round of yells came from above them. Now he did open his eyes, "Bloody hell... No."

"Yes," Buffy argued.

"She's callin' for you... I don' remember changin' my name t' Buffy, Slayer."

Buffy crossed her arms, and gave him a scathing look. "Cory's the one causing trouble, and she's yours too you know."

Another round of shouts, and a groan from Spike, "Righ' now, I wish you wouldn' remin' me o' that." He sighed, slammed his book shut, and headed for the stairs.

Buffy rose from her chair, when she heard the front door open. Dawn was heading for the library.

"Hey."

Dawn paused for a moment, "Oh, hey Buffy." She continued on her way.

"Hey."

Dawn stopped again, "What?"

"What time's school let out?"

"Three thirty," Dawn replied with a shrug, and started to head off again.

"Hey," Dawn stopped again, and turned towards her sister, "What time is it now?"

"Seven," the younger Summers girl replied, and tried to leave.

"Hey," Dawn was looking extremely annoyed by this point, "Where were you?" Buffy asked.

"Eason came by to give Crys a ride home, but she went with Jolie and Josie... So we went to see Willow and Oz, then went for a walk.."

Buffy sighed, she'd figured that Dawn being late would have something to do with her asian crush. She'd leave that part out when she told Spike where Dawn had been- he was far to protective of her. "Call me next time... You forget, we're on another hellmouth... Not as bad as Sunnydale, but it's still not safe, oh and tell Eason that I wanna talk to him." In reality, _Spike _wanted to, but Buffy figured she'd get to him first. After all, Spike would probably just traumatize the poor guy, as he had Andrew. Dawn nodded, and finally made it to the library. Whenever she got home, she sat down with Summer, and the other watchers-in-training, and go over their studies. Ancient languages, proper training methods, all that.

Upstairs, Spike had caught Cory as she'd tried to escape from him. While she squealed to be let go, she didn't really try to get away. She was too busy laughing. Once she noticed that the girl had been caught, Jory came out of her room. She complained to Spike that she was trying to do an assignment for school, and Cory kept bugging her. Cory however. claimed that it was Jory who was bugging _her_ by not answering when she called. It didn't take long to resolve the matter by sending Cory off to go and bug the girls in the dorm. Something she loved doing. Since she wasn't afraid of bugs, or any critters of the like, she often caught them and released them in there, when the girls were working on decorating and furnishing their rooms. The squeals and screams could be heard even in the mansion.

The matter with his daughter (strange thought, that... His daughter) resolved, Spike headed back to the living room, to resume his nap. There was going to be much chaos later, what with a new batch of girls coming. He'd need all the sleep he could get... After all, just because he wasn't all vampire anymore didn't mean he couldn't put on the act of being the Big Bad. Had to give the newbies a good scare.

That was just the way he did things. That was just the way things are.

END

Couple of things I'd like to mention;

For those of you who wanted Angel dead, trust me, so did I, but I wrote several different versions of this chapter, and I couldn't get his death to work, so I let him live... Believe me, I REALLY wanted to kill him off...

Also, if the ending seems kinda corny, or maybe just a little too happy: Forgive me, but my stories have all been ending badly as of late... Deadly Games, a fic I haven't posted on this site, ended with the last character left alive in a situation that no matter what he did, he was dead... And there was no sequel to that one... This is the first real fic in a while that I've written (with the exception of Trial by Fire), that has ended on a happy note, with no bad omen looming over the characters' heads

and, I kinda want to write a sequel to this, I have a couple ideas, but I'd really like to get everyone's opinion on the matter, and maybe a couple suggestions on things that should be brought up, should I write a sequel...

Please please please let me know what you think, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far. -hands out virtual boxes of candy and cookies- 


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